February 17, (THEWILL) – The recent call by the Director-General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, for the introduction of the death penalty to serve as a deterrent to fake drug peddlers in the country, was long overdue.
This was a call to intensify efforts to end the proliferation of counterfeit drugs as much as it was a warning to the evil barons that have birthed this illicit trade and sustained it for decades.
Professor Adeyeye identified fake drug peddlers or ‘death merchants’ as the real enemies behind the trade in substandard drugs who prioritise making huge sums of illicit money at the expense of the lives of fellow Nigerians.
Adeyeye said her call for the death penalty for fake drug peddlers, particularly those whose actions result in the death of children, was due to the massive damage they have inflicted on the society.
Since it was established in 1992, the agency has been engaged in a running battle with fake drug barons and despite recording occasional victories, it’s efforts have not been sufficient to permanently check the activities of the criminals.
The truth is that certain factors are limiting NAFDAC from effectively carrying out its enforcement duties. The first is the absence of adequate legal instruments to aid the agency in its bid to rid Nigeria of the menace posed by fake drug peddlers.
“There are no stringent measures in place to prevent repeat offences,” Adeyeye said.
Inadequate staffing is part of the problem.
NAFDAC has only 2,000 staff nationwide ( deemed equivalent to 1 member of staff serving 119,000 citizens), she claimed. Add that to poor funding, the agency’s challenges are enormous, indeed.
Fake drugs can have serious health, economic and social consequences. They can contain toxic ingredients that cause poisoning, lead to treatment failure and disease progression and subsequently, avoidable death, as well as accelerate the spread of drug-resistant infections.
Fake drugs can also have devastating effects on the finances of many Nigerian families, especially in these times of economic recession and extreme hardship. Families may deplete their savings on ineffective treatments, just as health systems are likely to waste resources on ineffective treatments too.
There are possible social consequences that can be triggered by counterfeit drugs, such as loss of confidence in healthcare providers and systems.
Anyone can be a victim of fake drugs proliferation in Nigeria. That is how bad it is. Although this is not backed by statistical evidence, there is a reason to believe that more Nigerians have died after consuming fake drugs. This makes it imperative to intensify efforts to stop the proliferation of such medicines. But NAFDAC cannot do it alone. The agency requires the full support and cooperation of other stakeholders, such as the Nigerian Customs Service, the Police and the judiciary.
We align with Prof. Adeyeye’s desire to have fake drug peddlers face the hangman in the future. Perhaps, introducing the death penalty is the right thing to do under the present circumstances and that amounts to paying the death merchants in their own coins. Total eradication of fake drugs in Nigeria is a duty that
must be done.
