Following federal government’s decision to withdraw National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other related agencies from seaports, a public analyst and author, Mr Martins Ikhale, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to rescind the decision to save people’s lives.?
? In a chat with LEADERSHIP, he said the health sector would be adversely affected, saying that fake drugs would flood the country if the ports are not monitored by NAFDAC, noting that the move is retrogressive .
According to him, combating illicit importation of counterfeited pharmaceuticals and unwholesome processed foods at the pre-entry stage was easier and less expensive than the very strenuous, time consuming and highly capital intensive post-entry approach.?
Ikhilae said the? country’s desire to achieve the United Nation’s set Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which emphasizes gross reduction in infants and maternal mortality rates may become a mirage if current government’s decision ordering NAFDAC operatives out of the nation’s seaports nationwide is not urgently reversed .
He described the withdrawal from seaport order handed to the agency recently by government as a national shame and lack of focus on the part of the country’s leadership , saying that the decision would do the country and its citizens more harm than good .
According to him, the much publicized decision is ill conceived, unpatriotic, and untimely, adding that it was a time bomb which would explode and have a disastrous effect on the nation’s healthcare delivery system currently being laboriously overhauled by the nation’s rejuvenated agency, NAFDAC.
The author warned against incessant hasty implementation of retrogressive policies, which, he said, was capable of retarding the nation’s long desired economic and socio-political development.
He added that the pronouncement was indicative of the policy’s lack of adequate and broad based consultations before its adoption and subsequent implementation.
Ikhilae urged Nigerian Government not to allow itself to be misled by some self centered individuals merely masquerading as patriots and that the country cannot afford to leave the nation’s maritime gateways at the mercy of merchants of death-manufacturers and dealers in counterfeited pharmaceuticals and unwholesome processed edibles.
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