NAFDAC slams attack on officials at Lagos trade fair

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has condemned the violent attack on its enforcement officials during an operation at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex on Thursday, October 30.

The agency said the team, led by its Director of Investigation and Enforcement and Chairman of the Federal Task Force, was carrying out routine regulatory enforcement aimed at curbing the sale of fake, substandard and unwholesome products when the officers were attacked.

According to the agency in a statement signed and released on Tuesday by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, the operation commenced without incident until hired thugs armed with dangerous weapons disrupted the exercise and vandalised operational vehicles belonging to NAFDAC and other supporting security agencies.

“The attackers demanded the identity of the Director and proceeded to vandalise about ten operational vehicles belonging to NAFDAC and other security agencies.

“Credible intelligence suggests that the assault was premeditated and targeted at harming senior NAFDAC officials, including the Director (Investigation & Enforcement),” the statement partly read.

NAFDAC further alleged that the market’s chief security officer ordered cluster leaders to lock all gates within the complex, cutting off the team’s exit route at the peak of the attack.

The agency said several cartons of counterfeit, banned and unwholesome products had already been intercepted in line with the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap. C.34 LFN 2004 before the disruption.

“At the time of the incident, several cartons of counterfeit, banned, and unwholesome products had already been discovered and confiscated in line with the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap. C.34 LFN 2004,” NAFDAC stated.

It commended police and military personnel attached to the operation for their response in preventing casualties.

“NAFDAC will not be intimidated or deterred from fulfilling its mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation,” the statement concluded.

PUNCH Online had reported that NAFDAC disclosed that more than 80 containers of fake and substandard medicines and food products were destroyed during the operation at Trade Fair market in Lagos.

The Director, Investigation and Enforcement and Chairman of the Federal Task Force, NAFDAC, Martins Iluyomade, made this known at a press briefing on Saturday while speaking on the recent attack on its officials at the market.

Iluyomade described the incident as a serious threat to enforcement operations, saying, “Enforcement has gotten that dangerous for our officials, but someone has to do it.”

He added that about 10 operational vehicles, worth over ₦25 billion, were reportedly vandalised during the attack.

Source: Punch