Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, has urged the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to effectively check the consumption of drugs and other unlawful products in Nigeria.
The Governor made the call at a meeting with the Acting Director General of NAFDAC, Mrs Yetunde Oni, at the Government House in Damaturu, the state’s capital.
The acting Director General of NAFDAC was accompanied by heads of the organisation in all the six states of Nigeria’s northeast geopolitical zone.
Governor Gaidam urged his visitors to renew their efforts in the fight against counterfeit drugs and products within the security prone zone.
He said unauthorised trading and consumption of counterfeit products add to the activities of the insurgents and tasked NAFDAC to play its part in changing the trend.
The governor lauded the visit, saying it would afford NAFDAC the ample opportunity to disseminate information and sensitise people on the danger of patronising drugs hawkers.
He added that the visit would enable the agency take decisive steps towards eradicating the practice of streets hawking of drugs and put an end to the problems of drug addiction and abuse.
Governor Gaidam also asked NAFDAC to conduct research in the area of farm produce preservation which he said had become a serious concern to farmers and also posed health hazards to consumers.
In her response, Mrs Oni sympathised with the government over the unfortunate and needless destruction of human lives and property by the Boko Haram militants.
She assured the governor that NAFDAC would collaborate with relevant agencies and well-meaning indignes of the state to fight the horrific activity.
The NAFDAC boss added that the agency would not relent in its onerous task of liberating Nigeria from the menace of counterfeit, fake drugs and unwholesome food products among others.
She vowed that the agency would continue to do its best in ensuring that only the right quality, safe and efficacious drugs, healthy foods and other regulated products were made available to the people.
Mrs Oni further presented some food and other items to Governor Gaidam to be distributed among the victims of Boko Haram insurgency who were still traumatised and homeless in their fatherland.
