The Kano State Task Force Committee on fake drugs and unwholesome foods has disclosed that it seized and destroyed counterfeit drugs worth N6 billion in the past nine years.
Chairman of the committee, Gali Sule, revealed this during an interactive session on Saturday with the Kano state chapter of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
According to him, on about 20 different occasions since its inauguration in 2012, the committee has destroyed fake drugs in the state, noting that success was achieved through the hard work and commitment of its members, and collaborations with related agencies established to fight the menace.
He noted that the state’s ranking on the consumption of fake and substandard drugs has improved as it dropped from number one to six in a recent rating.
He said: “We have destroyed all the seized drugs, 20 destruction exercises for the seized drugs have been held since 2012, mostly witnessed by the executive governor of the state, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
If you sanitise Kano of fake drugs, you are sanitising many countries in the region of Africa of substandard drugs because countries like Niger, Chad, even Sudan among others buy their drugs from Kano.”
He said before the inauguration of the committee, drug hawkers used to flood the streets of Kano but had been driven away because of the activities of the committee, which has NAFDAC, NDLEA, security agencies, KAROTA, and vigilante groups among others as members.
“Drug hawkers in Kano have been drastically reduced. Before now, they were everywhere but they are no more, they have relocated to neighbouring states. Just three days ago we confiscated fake and adulterated antimalarial drugs, which if left undetected may affect many, especially pregnant women.
The logo on the drug was from a partnership programme between Kano State and some international donors on antimalarial drugs. The partnership had ended three years ago, but these people were still using the logo to manufacture the fake drug,” Sule added.
He said more measures were being taken in collaboration with the Federal Government to stem the tide of the menace, noting that a site was being built and was at 80 per cent completion level, where all drug marketers, especially wholesalers in Kano would be relocated.
