The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised concerns over the harmful market practices common among traders and warned that the agency will not spare anyone caught in the practice.
The Zonal Director, North Central Zone of the agency, Kenneth Azikiwe, issued the warning in Minna, Niger State, shortly after the stakeholders’ engagement meeting.
Azikiwe disclosed that the addition of AZODIE to palm oil to make it more attractive is a dangerous marketing practice, regretting that marketers add the Azodie so that the palm oil looks redder.
Azikiwe added: “This act is done by marketers at night, and it is most unfortunate,” he said.
The Zonal Director, however, hinted that in recent times, NAFDAC has begun to advance into electronic platforms from what was done manually before, pointing out that the agency has developed a lot of DISCOP applications, such as NAPALMS, RETURATION PORTER, NATIONAL SINGLE TRADE WINDOW, PITCAME, and many other electronic means of rendering services to the public to educate them and encourage them to embrace all the platforms.
“We used the opportunities of these platforms to get feedback from those who have embraced them, what their challenges are, so that we can improve on what they are getting,” he said.
The Zonal Director had also appealed to the Niger State Government to allocate a piece of land to NAFDAC so that it can build a permanent office complex in Niger.
He lauded the Niger State Coordinator, Pharmacist James Kigbu, and his supporting staff for the large turnout of stakeholders during the engagement meeting.
