Nigerian drugs will henceforth bear scratch cards to reveal their identification numbers, NAFDAC said on Tuesday in Ibadan.
The agency said the numbers would provide users with information on the authenticity of drugs.
This was disclosed by the? NAFDAC Coordinator in Oyo State, Mr Benjamin Haruna, at a sensitisation campaign on? fake drugs organised in conjunction with NYSC/CD group? at the Agbeni Market in Ibadan.?
He said? the awareness campaign would soon be taken to local government areas? of the state where, he noted, there was? high prevalence of fake drugs.
In his remarks, NAFDAC’s Zonal Public Relations Officer, Mr Olugbenga Osiyemi, said? NYSC? members would be used as “foot soldiers that would spread the campaign to all the 33 local governments in the state.’’
He said the corps members would watch out for expiry and manufacturing dates on the drugs.
Osiyemi said that the activities of manufacturers, importers and sellers of fake drugs and unwholesome products were endangering the lives of Nigerians, stifling the growth of local industries, inhibiting employment generation and negatively affecting economic growth and development.
“I want to advise those who patronise manufacturers and hawkers of unwholesome products to desist from such, because without patronage, there will be no business for manufacturers, importers and hawkers of such products, and that they will? consequently go out of business,’’ he said.
Osiyemi said the agency had organised sensitisation programmes at the grassroots for traders in Ibadan through the services of the NYSC as part of its campaign against fake? and counterfeiting of regulated products.
Alhaji Azeez Adisa,? who spoke on behalf of the Agbeni Market traders, advised the traders to be watchful so that they did not fall victim of fake drugs.
He urged the traders to desist from buying drugs without labels and information about their expiry and manufacturing dates.
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