Reopen Onitsha Bridgehead Market, S/East Reps Caucus Urges NAFDAC

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The South East Caucus in the House of Representatives has called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to consider reopening the Onitsha Bridgehead Market in Anambra State.

Recall that the agency sealed over 4,000 shops in Onitsha, 3,027 shops in Lagos and 4,000 shops in Aba in the ongoing clampdown on fake and substandard drugs in the country.

However, the leader of the caucus, Hon. Igariwey Enwo, made the call while addressing a press conference at the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday in Abuja.

The caucus frowned at the activities of the so-called businessmen and women, who engage in the business of production and distribution of fake and adulterated medications and drugs which they pass on to unsuspecting public.

Enwo noted that their activities not only imperil public health, but have led directly or indirectly to loss of lives.

He pointed out that the sealing of the entire market has a huge collateral damage on the entire country particularly on drug users in the South East and South South zones.

Enwo urged the agency not to punish innocent and genuine traders as well as drug/medicine users alongside the alleged criminals.

His words: “While we are mindful of NAFDAC’s statutory role in curbing and stamping out of fake drugs in the country, we urge them to quickly arrest and prosecute those responsible for the production and distribution of these fake drugs.

“The wholesale and indefinite sealing of a market that caters for over 90 per cent of the medication needs of the South East and South South regions, may not be the best approach.

“More so when it is considered that many of the other traders in the same market are genuine business men and women.

“Therefore, to avoid a situation of visiting collective punishment on all the traders of Onitsha Bridgehead, which is currently in a state of lockdown, and considering the wider collateral effect of the lockdown on the health needs of the larger population.

“We urge NAFDAC to quickly resolve the situation by prosecuting the offenders, sanitizing the entire medical ecosystem, whether in Onitsha bridge head market, or in Aba, Lagos or Kano.”