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NAFDAC Raises Alarm Over Fake, Expired Drugs In Anambra Market

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The South-East Zonal Director of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Martins Iluyomade has raised alarm over mind-boggling manufacture and sale of fake and expired drugs in popular “Ogbo Ogu Market, otherwise, known as, “Head-bridge Drug Market, Onitsha, Anambra state.

It was gathered that the Zonal Director stormed the drug market in the early hours of Monday around 4am accompanied by heavily-armed security operatives drawn from the military and the Nigeria Police Force.

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At the market, the NAFDAC officials broke into different drug sales shops and warehouses where they brought out fake, substandard and expired drugs concealed in cartons.

Also, the team made shocking discovery of empty drug containers and packets, with names and addresses of local and foreign manufacturers, as well as NAFDAC numbers printed on them.

READ ALSO: NAFDAC Proposes Death Penalty For Fake Drug Peddlers

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Also discovered were fake drugs allegedly manufactured by some of the traders waiting to be packaged in those containers and packets whose manufacturers already have the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) registration.

Briefing newsmen at the drug market, the NAFDAC South East boss, warned that the drug market posed grave danger to lives of unsuspecting patients.

He stated that the discovery showed that most faked drugs were “very sensitive medicine that the people need. Some of the drugs are foreign manufactured drugs, and, are very expensive because of the Dollars exchange to Naira”, he said.

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Dr. Iluyomade bemoaned that the contents that would eventually be packaged in these containers and packets would be fake products.

READ ALSO: NAFDAC Proposes Death Penalty For Fake Drug Peddlers

“You can’t guarantee what would be put in these containers and packets. This is why people are dying because the medicine they are buying are fake, some are substandard and expired,” he lamented.

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He stated that the raid was going on simultaneously in all major drug markets in the South-East zone, adding that it was a national assignment discreetly planned for several months to ensure its success.

Iluyomade stated that NAFDAC had in the past involved the market’s leadership in carrying out the raid, but, said that the agency deliberately decided to toe a different path in the current exercise in a bid to save the latter from blackmail and attacks as experienced in the past from their co-traders after such exercise.

READ ALSO: NAFDAC Issues Warning To Bakeries Over Saccharin, Bromate Usage

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The NAFDAC boss stressed that the current exercise might not end soon, noting that, “the enormity of the work is huge. I can’t say now how long it will take us to conclude, but, even if it will take us one year, we will continue because we want to sanitise this market of fake drugs to save the lives of Nigerians.

“NAFDAC has said it before, ‘Shine your eyes when you are buying medicines, but, now it is shine the whole of your body.”

He said that all culprits would be made to face the law.

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When contacted, the chairman of the drug market, Mr. Chukwuleta Ndubuisi said he would not say anything about the exercise until he received the details of the raid.
(PUNCH)

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Bumper Harvest: Foundation Distributes 6,000 Fertilizers To Farmers In Bauchi

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A group, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation has donated 6,000 50kg bags of fertilizer to farmers in Bauchi state in order to have a bumper harvest.

Speaking during the flag off ceremony of the distribution of the fertilizers on Thursday, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation, said the distribution was only for the indigent farmers in the state.

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He said the fertilizers would be distributed to farmers in underserved communities across the three Senatorial Districts of the state.

“We are gathered here to flag off the free distribution of fertilizers to farmers, especially the indigent farmers that don’t have the means to buy fertilizer for their farms.

READ ALSO: Fedpoly Bauchi Shut Down Over Violent Students Protest

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“That is the reason why the founder of this foundation bought the fertilizers and distributed them to the low income farmers in the state.

“We have gone round the nooks and crannies of the state to identify the underserved communities and those that deserve this particular gesture.

“We planned to distribute about 6,000 bags of fertilizer and due to the populous nature of the Bauchi LGA, they have the largest share but some other local governments too have hundreds of beneficiaries which we divided into Senatorial zones,” he said.

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According to him, today was the flagging off of the Bauchi South Senatorial District, adding that the extension of the gesture would commence in Bauchi North and Bauchi Central Senatorial Districts tomorrow.

READ ALSO: UNICEF Advocates Six Months Maternity Leave From Working Mothers In Bauchi

Mohammed explained that the only criteria used in selecting the beneficiaries were underserved communities and low income farmers, adding that “we know that a large number of the farmers in Bauchi state are low income farmers.

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“Those are the people that we identified, verified and they are our beneficiaries and we have warned the general public about the activities of some unscrupulous elements that go round to impersonate our foundation.

“Wunti Al-Khair Foundation is not charging a kobo for every part of its activities, be it education, healthcare, economic empowerment and community development”.

Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Samson, described the support as a timely intervention that would greatly enhance his farming activities and appreciated the foundation for the intervention.

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Another beneficiary, Salisu Maidawa, who was short of words for the gesture, said the gesture came at a time when he was in dire need of it.

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IYC Urges Tinubu To Sack NCDMB Boss

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Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Western Zone, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for allegedly not “keeping up to the fundamental mandate,” upon which the agency was established.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Nicholas Igarama, Comrade Ebi Joshua Olowolayemo, and Comrade Tare Magbei, Western Zone
Chairman, Secretary, and Information Officer respectively, and made available to newsmen in Warri on Thursday, August 14, 2015.

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According to the IYC, the call for Ogbe’s sack becomes necessary following his incompetence and ethnic bias, adding that Ogbe has turned the agency meant for the whole Niger Delta to his Itsekiri ethnic group alone.

The IYC, while noting that efforts to meet the NCDMB Executive Secretary to discuss critical issues as they affect the region and its people have proved abortive, said it can no longer fold it arms and watch while things go from bad to worse.

READ ALSO: FG Warns Of Flooding In Lagos, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, 26 Others

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As Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Ogbe has consistently failed to input his supposed industry track record in the advancement of the mandate upon which the agency was founded.

“He has continually had a sectional engagement with his fellow Itsekiri Kits and Kin, thereby shutting all other ethnic nationalites in the Niger Delta region out.

“Repeatedly, he avoided critical youth engagement in the region while sponsoring that of his Itsekiri ethnicity through different human capacity development initiatives, while other ethnic nationalites are left unattended.

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“As Ijaw, mostly from the western flank where Engr. Ogbe also hails from, we will not sit and watch others benefit from the resources that we produce without our practical involvement to better the lives of our people as well.

READ ALSO: Bayelsa Warns LG Officials Against Pension Payment Delays

“It is on record that the leadership of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Western Zone has tried to establish communication with Engr. Ogbe, for the last ten months, but every medium of communication to get his attention has fundamentally proven to be abortive.

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“As youths, we can no longer have leaders in office who have now equated themselves to demi-god and have refused to attend to most significantly youthful issues in the Niger Delta Region.

“To this end, we therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinibu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who has consistently displayed disregard for critical actors in the Niger Delta and has also exhibited the highest level of gross inefficiency by not keeping up to the fundamental mandate upon which NCDMB was founded,” the statement reads.

The IYC also called for the probe Ogbe as Executive Secretary after his sack.

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Efforts to reach Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, NCDMB, for reaction proved abortive.

 

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I’m Being Impersonated – Goodluck Jonathan Disowns Social Media Account

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Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday said he is being impersonated by fraudsters.

Jonathan alleged that a fraudulent Instagram handle has been impersonating him.

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In a statement by his Media Aide,
Ikechukwu Eze, the former President insisted that he does not operate any Instagram handle.

READ ALSO:Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan Appointed Africa’s Ambassador For Agricultural Technology

The statement is titled ‘Beware of fake Instagram account impersonating H.E. Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’.

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“Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent Instagram account operating under the handle goodluck_ebelejonathan, which is falsely impersonating former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

“This impostor account has been deceitfully posting content, some copied from Dr. Jonathan’s Facebook page, while pretending to represent the former President.

READ ALSO:How Former Konga CEO, Nick Imudia, Committed Suicide

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“We wish to emphasise that Dr. Jonathan does not operate any Instagram account.

“The media and members of the public are strongly advised to disregard, avoid sharing, or promoting any content originating from this fake profile,” the statement read.

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