Anambra Drug Traders Protest Market Closure by NAFDAC

Traders at the Ogbo-Ogwu drug market in Onitsha, Anambra State, have taken to the streets to protest the market’s closure by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The traders are demanding the immediate and unconditional reopening of the market, claiming that the closure has led to the death of over five persons and hospitalized several others due to depression ¹.

The traders, who claim to deal in genuine products, alleged that NAFDAC’s claims about the market are untrue. They stated that the drugs carted away by NAFDAC were genuine and registered. However, NAFDAC’s Zonal Director, South-East, Martins Iluyomade, dismissed the allegations, insisting that the agency’s officers carried out the enforcement exercise as stipulated by law ¹.

Iluyomade stated that all the items removed from the shops did not have NAFDAC approval. He reiterated the agency’s commitment to ensuring that fake drugs are stamped out from the markets. The traders have also called for the immediate prosecution of those caught with suspected fake and substandard drugs.

The market has been sealed off for two months, and the traders are struggling to make ends meet. They have pledged their loyalty to the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu and the state government led by Prof Chukwuma Soludo ¹.

In a related development, four traders from the Ogbo Ogwu Bridge Head Market in Onitsha have taken legal action against NAFDAC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) over the market’s closure ².