The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control continues to work to rid the nation of drug counterfeiters, but the problem seems enormous, writes Martins Ifijeh

Whenever the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) makes the news, it is almost certainly predictable what the content would be.

It is either they have arrested fake drug syndicates or seized various unwholesome products including counterfeit drugs, or they are inspecting the destruction of such counterfeit drugs/products, which are often estimated to worth hundreds of millions of naira.

This is because fake drug producers and importers are unrelenting and are hell bent on feasting on the finance of unsuspecting Nigerians who would often purchase these ‘drugs’ for the purpose of treating themselves and living healthy lives….And then, the agency is continuously in pursuit of these ‘merchants of death’ with the sole aim of bringing them to justice while destroying their seized products.
Available information suggests that since 1985, when the then government in power introduced the import license for all imported goods, including drugs, the country assumed this dangerous dimension that has snuffed life out of several unsuspecting Nigerians. A development that altered the sanctity of the pharmaceutical industry in the country till date.

“Those who had no business with drugs started getting the license and became importers of products they no nothing about, while the genuine pharmacists and importers were denied access or were ‘forced’ to repurchase the license from these set of people. With the high and connected able to get the license, and knowing that there is a lot of money to be made, especially when importing substandard and counterfeit drugs, these people with licenses took advantage of it and then flooded Nigerian market with varying types of counterfeit and unwholesome products,” said a concerned Nigerian, Pharm. Roland Anyanwu.
It is with the knowledge that the sector is enmeshed in high incidence of fake drugs that the then Director General of NAFDAC, late Prof. Dora Akunyili assumed office and swung into action with the aim of refocusing the pharmaceutical industry and correcting the anomalies that has brought a lot of skepticism to the industry.

Akunyili, who declared zero tolerance on fake drugs and unwholesome products, spent her eight years tenure repositioning the sector and then succeeded in convicting a lot of counterfeiters and drug syndicate, even though it almost cost her everything she had.

Like Akunyili, the current DG of the agency, Dr. Paul Orhii, who assumed office January 13, 2009, has continued to show his desire to see the country free from counterfeit drugs.

In achieving this, he took a step further from his predecessor by introducing various cutting edge technologies which has earned him some significant levels of results.

Despite the agency’s arrest of several counterfeiters in the past, more people are getting into the act on a regular basis, suggesting that there might be need for a change of strategy by NAFDAC to achieve success with its anti-counterfeiting campaign.

At a recent press briefing held in Lagos recently, Orhii who paraded a leader of a drug syndicate and two other drug counterfeiters decried the level at which importers and producers of fake drugs are springing up in the country.

A health correspondent with Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) who was among the media personnel present during the parade of the three counterfeiters, had this to say while chatting with THISDAY correspondent who also attended the press briefing: “It never really struck me the depth at which this country is entangled in the phenomenon called fake, counterfeit, adulterated and unwholesome products until I saw the sadness on the face of Orhii this morning during the press briefing, when he said if he has his way, drug counterfeiters would be shot to death for killing fellow humans with adulterated and fake drugs.”

At the press briefing, Orhii said he will continue to strengthen the foundation he met on ground while introducing more modern technologies and tools in line with international standard, so that the agency will be able to achieve its desired goal better and more efficiently.

According to him, despite the desperation of drug counterfeiters, the agency has continued to frustrate their efforts and has been determined to rid the country totally of counterfeiters and fake drug importers who are bent on destroying the lives of the citizens.

He explained that NAFDAC is working towards totally eradicating the country of fake drugs, through more stringent measures other than just arresting fake drug syndicates, jailing them or burning their ‘products’. “Efforts are also made to arrest those who are patronizing these counterfeiters, including landlords and neighbors who refuse to report these illicit activities. If the agency go after these section of people who encourage the counterfeiters, it would also help in reducing the menace in the country,” Orhii added.

He advocated that certain measures be included in the Nigerian law to guide the running of the agency, such that landlords who rent out their warehouses to drug counterfeiters would also be made to face the law, as it is also their responsibility to find out what their tenants are doing with the space provided or what they intend to do with the space.

According to him, “the agency is compiling a bill which it intend presenting to the National assembly, where by counterfeiters would be made to forfeit the wealth made from the illicit trade as well as compensate people who have been affected by the use of their products.

“Among the bill also to be sent to the National Assembly is a reward plan for whistle blowers, including neighbors, landlords, among others who report cases of fake drugs to the agency or any of the security outfit.”
Orhii, who explained that if he has his way, these ‘merchants of deaths’ would serve the capital punishment which is death, said drug counterfeiters are worse than armed robbers. “Armed robbers can kill handful number of people, but drug counterfeiters are killing thousands of people. Worse still is that they are even killing sick people who ordinarily needs drugs that should put their health back in shape.”

Like a determined man who intends to fight counterfeiters to a reasonable ending, Orhii said as long as he remains the Director General of the agency, he will continue to LEAD the fight against the menace and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Just recently, the DG, led a team of enforcement units of the agency, security officials, as well as media personnel from various news medium in the country, including THISDAY newspaper to some warehouses around Ketu where counterfeit goods worth over N1 Billion naira were discovered.

The three warehouses visited, owned by one Mr. Kingsley Okereke, a leader of a fake drug syndicate and a notorious importer of counterfeit drugs, is said to contain ‘products’ from Fidson Plc, GSK, Green life Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, among other top pharmaceutical companies in the country.

Among the drugs at the various warehouses are: Tarivid 200mg tablet, Augumentin 625mg tablet, Novasc tablet, Cotecxin tablet, Ampiclox packaging materia, GSK hologram for loparex, Augumentin packaging material, Ciprotab tablets, unlabelled injections, and several others. Worthy of note is the discovery of date and batch coding machines used in the revalidation of expired medicines and various hologram and seals used by various pharmaceutical companies in the country.

But the DG announced that unfortunately, Okereke is now at large after, attempting to murder one of the enforcement staff of the agency during a raid on his house. “Just yesterday, while our enforcement team tracked him down, he attempted to run his car into one of our staff who immediately gave way in order not to be killed.

“The last known address of Okereke (alias Agama) is 3, Ameze street, off Magodo Road, Shangisha, Ketu, Lagos and efforts are being made to get him arrested,” he added.
Orhii called on the public to assist in getting him arrested saying, “we hereby declare him wanted and we implore members of the public with any useful information that may LEAD to his arrest to get in touch with the nearest NAFDAC formation or the nearest police station.

He said that Okereke is a very dangerous fellow and that the public should not attempt to arrest him on their own or accost him as he is capable of doing anything to escape justice.
He, explained that useful information concerning him should be reported to the nearest police station or channelled to NAFDAC office or its officers.

As NAFDAC continue to show zero tolerance to the fight against counterfeiters who are committing mass murder through sales of unwholesome products and drugs, It is still unclear when the country will be totally free from the menace of fake drugs and unwholesome products.