From MOLLY KILETE, Abuja
Friday, April 28, 2006

Leader of NAFDAC enforcement team, Alhaji Hashim Ubale Yusuf, who led the delegation for the exercise, told newsmen that the agency ‘s decision to shut down all drugs outlets in the clinic was as a result of the presence of counterfeit and expired drugs, as well as products that are not registered by the agency.

Alhaji Yusus who said NAFDAC got wind of the fake products from a consumer who was administered with one of the expired drugs, said the agency would not fold its arm to see perpetrators carry out their evil acts on innocent Nigerians.

According to him, the agency upon investigation discovered that "the pharmacy department were stocked in various categories, there was a store mainly of Nigerian products which are to serve only our people in Nigeria, there were stock made of only imported German products, which are made only available for Germans who are working in Nigeria and may be for special people and this is against the regulatory control in Nigeria and also we found that all the products are not registered".

He also said 16 of the products found in the clinic, were drugs produced by some Chinese drug manufacturing companies that have been blacklisted by NAFDAC and made public, adding that with the status of the giant construction company, it ought to be in the know but ignored it.