At least 39 illegal drug shops have been closed down in Alapere, Magodo and Ikosi-Isheri areas of Lagos state during a raid by the operatives of the Lagos State Task Force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods in a bid to stop sales of fake drugs in the state.
According to AIT reports on Thursday, November 6, 2014, the shops were sealed for offences ranging from sales of drugs without license from the regulatory authority; failure to relocate from a market area and adherence to the mandated distance between a patent medicine shop and market place as stipulated by the law, coupled with the sales of counterfeit and fake drugs among others.
This was divulged by the Special Adviser to the governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, who decried the increasing rate of the menace of illegal drug store operators in Lagos adding that the government is out to scrutinize their activities and stop the inherent dangers associated with the sales of fake, substandard and expired drugs by unauthorized and unregistered drug and pharmaceutical outlets.
The Task Force officials conducted the raid in conjunction with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Federal Taskforce, National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Pharmaceutical Inspectors Committee (PIC), and Officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force from the state command
Adeshina said, “That is why we will not relent in our drive to sanitize the drug distribution system in Lagos, hence the mandate of the Task Force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods.”
She frowned at the people who disobey the laid-down rules, despite that the provisions of the law stipulates the requirements for the registration and renewal of pharmaceutical premises, culpability and punishment for offenders as stipulated by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria Act of 1992 and the Registration of Pharmaceutical Premises Regulation Law of 2005.
