The National Agency for Food and Medicines Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has declared that false drugs and drug abuse are a national pandemic that needs deliberate and sustained efforts of the government and citizens to control.
The southwest zonal director of Nafdac, Mrs. Roseline Ajayi, announced this on Tuesday in Ibadan while pronouncing the conference entitled “The threat of false drugs and drug abuse in Nigeria”, in the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the Mornón Society of the Resorrection of the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan.
In the course of his conference, Ajayi spoke widely about false drugs, counterfeit medications, lower quality medications, counterfeit medications, controlled drugs, drug diversion, drug abuse and other related problems, and how they affect the economy, the health system, the family system and society in general.
By citing the sad statistics of falsified drugs and seizures of lower quality products and destruction by the agency, which is worth billions of Naira, emphasized that the consequences of false drugs and drug abuse in Nigeria are of great reach.
“The economic burden of false drugs in the health system is substantial, with millions of Naira spent in treating patients who have been victims of these counterfeit products,” he said.
According to her, the negative consequences of drug abuse include drug addiction and dependence, poor judgment, insecure sexual activity, disease and death, mental health disorders and damage to organs, and changes in school/work performance, among others. He added that these consequences undermine efforts to deepen socioeconomic development and are associated with crime and illegality.
She listed some of the drugs and substances abused by the Nigerians, especially young and young, added: “Due to our peculiarity, most of these drugs are prohibited in Nigeria, but are not prohibited in most countries.”
Ajayi widely explained the role of Nadfac and the Government in the control of the production, export and import of drugs and other related products, such as its roles to minimize the proliferation of false drugs and substance abuse in the country.
She, however, added that Nafdac and the government cannot do it alone. In light of this, he explained the roles that families, teachers, bodies and religious centers, manufacturers and importers of drugs, and the younger generation have to play in the control of false drugs and abuse of substances in the country.
The president of the star society in the morning Resurrection, Professor Olabode Lucas, praised the Federal Government and Nafdac for his efforts to control the proliferation of false drugs in the country.
Professor Lucas regretted that false and lower quality drugs are a threat to the future of Nigeria and that the influx and use of these drugs have led to many deaths.
He said that sometimes some of the medications that people use for simple ailments do not work; Rather, they have a negative effect on the body, damaging the vital organs in the process.
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The president of the occasion, Professor Fola Lasebikan of the Department of Psychiatry, the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Ibadan, emphasized that the issue of false drugs and substance abuse is a pandemic that goes beyond the medical field of social, legal and spiritual spheres and that prayers are necessary to offer people, especially young and adolcent, which are consumed in them.
He affirmed that the consequences of drug abuse are serious to the extent that, according to him, most people in psychiatric rooms are admitted due to drug and substance abuse.
Professor Lasebikan emphasized that all Nigerians should be a “soldier” of Nafdac and help in the fight against false drugs and drug abuse in society.
Answering questions from the audience, Nafdac Southwest Boss revealed that Nigerian products are safer compared to most products produced abroad because they are easier to inspect and control.
He concluded his conference by saying: “While we freely discuss these issues, we are being equipped with knowledge to fight them, because knowledge is power.”
Present at the event were the chaplain of the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan; some notable professors of the University; and some members of the Resurrection Morning Star Society.