By Aderogba George

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has called for more intelligence reports about counterfeit products to tackle the problem.

The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the call when she featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

Adeyeye, who said that the agency alone cannot fight counterfeit products, stressed the need for support from Nigerians, saying “we cannot be everywhere,  we need information about such products’ availability in communities.

“If you inform us about such products, we will be there within an hour or maximum two hours, we have done that several times, where we get intelligence.

“If found to have truly violated the law, we will shut the company immediately. We, therefore, call on the public to call our helpline on 080-162-3322 for any information.

“People can also get to us via Email:sf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng or report to the nearest NAFDAC office or through E-reporting platforms available on NAFDAC website -www.nafdac.gov.ng.

“Nigerians can also report via the Med-safety application available for download on Android and IOS stores or via Email on: pharmacovigilance@nafdac.gov.ng.”

The NAFDAC boss said that through intelligence report, a lot had been done locally, adding that any company found short of the agency’s rules and regulations on standard would be shut.

She said that such company would remain shut until it finds corrective measures.

“We have shut many companies, and from the higher up, they call me but I say no, we cannot open them, but let them quickly do what we asked them to do, we are for business. We have, however, shut a few companies permanently.

“We are now higher up in terms of the use of technology to confirm substandard products, especially drugs, called GS 1 track and trace mechanism.”

She further explained that consumers could scan the barcode on drug packets to know where they are from, when it was manufactured, when it will expire.

“We have also digitised package leaflets, usually inside some products; with a scanner, you can download electronic information which patients or consumers can also read to know more about a product.”

She said that Nigerians could use their phones to get information about a product by scanning the barcode and that could also be done through the use of an App.

The NAFDAC boss added that a lot of awareness had been done in the media like the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and TVC about substandard goods.

“If a product is too cheap, it is very likely that it is not good,” she said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu