The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has condemned the invasion of AliBan De Great Industries Nkpor, a beverage production company and abduction of its workers by Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA) for alleged production of fake products.
Dr Martins Iluyomade, Coordinator of NAFDAC, Enugu Zonal office who spoke to the media in Enugu on Wednesday said it was not the duty of the quasi security agency to declare a production activity illegal.
Iluyomade said only NAFDAC reserved the legal mandate to approve and regulate importation, exportation, manufacture, sales and distribution of drug, cosmetics, packaged water and chemicals,
Recall that OCHA Brigade invaded AliBan De Great production factory on Oct. 10 forced themselves in, destroyed their CCTV cameras before carting away document, products and property of the company without prior notice.
Seven workers of the company were taken away as common criminals and locked up in OCHA Brigade detention facility for three days before moving them to State Criminal Investigation Department, Awka.
Iluyomade said OCHA Brigade, a state owned enforcement agency had no right under the law to takeover NAFDAC the job to condemn food, chemical products or arrest workers of regulated products but could draw their attention to such development.
He expressed concern that when the company presented NAFDAC certificate as evidence of compliance and approval, OCHA Brigade staff took and tore the document.
The NAFDAC Director said before the agency made pronouncements on any product, they were subjected to a process where trained professionals test them in standard laboratories contrary to what OCHA Brigade did.
According to him, we saw a recent report that said the Anambra Taskforce, OCHA Brigade bust an illegal production factory in Onitsha.
“NAFDAC is created by law to regulate importation, exportation, manufacture, sales and distribution of drug, cosmetics, packaged water and chemical products.
“Government has invested so much resources in this area that we have nine functional labs that are accredited internationally for testing of samples and issuing approvals,” he said.
Iluyomade said NAFDAC was the lead agent in the field or regulated product where inter agency collaboration existed.
He said regulation of food and drugs was in the exclusive list and that agency or organisation should know their limits adding that Nigeria was a country governed by laws.
“NAFDAC does operate like that, we have processes, NAFDAC is the one which gives license, we are the only agency that can confirm whether a certificate is genuine or not,” he said
