The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has called for stiffer punishment for drug traffickers and importers of illegal drugs into the country.
The Director-General of the agency, Mojisola Adeyeye made the call during news conference on Monday in Abuja.
She decried what she described as light sentences handed peddlers of Tramadol and counterfeit drugs, calling on the judiciary to review the penalties.
”It breaks my heart that a sentence of five years imprisonment or N250,000 fine is given to someone that is trafficking Tramadol that is killing our youths, destroying homes and casting shadows on the future of Nigeria.
“I am pleading with the judiciary to look at the consequences of narcotic on our homes and review the sentences,” she said.
She commended the federal government for its support in terms of equipment, adding that the agency was having it better in the present administration.
Mrs Adeyeye also said that 12 different individuals were caught with large amount of substandard and falsified medicine, some of which had been destroyed.
She said that some of them were being investigated or prosecuted, while some had been sentenced.
She disclosed that the agency had destroyed substandard and falsified medical products worth more than N3 billion between November 2017 and November 2018.
“The agency in conjunction with the Nigeria Customs Service have began the destruction of seized consignments of substandard and falsified medical products especially Tramadol.
“A total of 24 containers of the products have been destroyed,” she said.
NAN
