Seized drugs returning into market, Maiduguri drug dealers cry out

Drug dealers in the popular Gamboru Medicine Market in Maiduguri have raised an alarm that damaged drugs confiscated by NAFDAC were being brought back into their market.

The market was devastated by the September 10 flood that ravaged the state capital city. According to the dealers, drugs worth over N1 billion were damaged by the floodwater.

In an attempt to reduce their losses, some dealers were reported to be sun-drying the soaked drugs. Acting on tips, NAFDAC, in collaboration with the Borno State Ministry of Health, inspected the market, warehouses, and homes of the dealers and confiscated the damaged drugs, describing them as unsafe for consumption.

According to the drug dealers, the agency took the damaged drugs away.

However, months after the exercise, the dealers allege that strangers were peddling the same kind of drugs seized by the agency.

Some of the dealers who shared this information with this reporter said they were afraid some dealers may accept the drugs because, even during the inspection by NAFDAC, some insisted that the drugs were safe for consumption, but the officials insisted they were not.

“Some people have come here trying to sell the same kind of drugs confiscated by the government,” a drug dealer in the market said, “but we refused to buy, and we did not ask where they got them because it was not our business.”

Another dealer in the market made a similar claim. He said some retailers who buy from them also complained that new faces were approaching them with the damaged drugs.

“Some of my customers with small medicine stores came here and told me people were bringing them the kind of damaged drugs we earlier submitted to NAFDAC,” the drug dealer said.

The president of the Nigerian Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers, Borno State chapter, Jibrin Bukar, also spoke on the issue.

Even though he said he was not aware of the situation, he looked shocked by the revelation.

Mr Bukar said he participated in the inspection exercise with the officials and confirmed that dealers handed over damaged drugs worth over N1 billion to NAFDAC. However, he could not ascertain that the drugs were destroyed as promised by the agency.

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“NAFDAC took inventory of all the contaminated drugs. The drugs, worth over N1 billion, were taken away by NAFDAC. If this happened, I am just hearing it from you,” the president said.

NAFDAC reacts

This reporter reached out to the NAFDAC office in Borno State.

The agency’s state coordinator, Jamil Audu, said all the drugs confiscated from the market were destroyed last year.

“I led a team to mop up all contaminated drugs at Gamboru, an area opposite the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and at Monday Market.

“I led another team that took all the drugs to Gombe, and that was where we destroyed everything. I was there throughout the exercise; I saw the drugs on fire until they completely burned down,” the coordinator said.

Mr Bukar said the items burned that day were worth about N10 billion, including expired items willingly submitted by organisations and individuals from across the region.

However, he urged the drug dealers and “other people” to report “suspicious movements” to the authorities.