By Asma’u Ahmad
The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it had sanctioned 12 patent medicine vendors in Jigawa state for selling unregistered and expired drugs.
The state Coordinator of NAFDAC, Alhaji Abdulsalam Lawal, made this known to newsmen in Dutse, the state capital.
Alhaji Lawal explained that the erring drug dealers were caught during their unscheduled routine inspection at the state capital recently.
He said that their offences were varied and they had been penalised accordingly.
“Some of them were fined while some lost their unregistered and expired drugs to the agency during the exercise,” he said.
According to him, unregistered and expired drugs which cut across different types of drugs like antibiotics and anti-malaria were found in their stores.
The NAFDAC official disclosed that some of them displayed some drugs that were supposed to be kept in refrigerators to maintain certain temperature condition on the shelves.
Alhaji Lawal warned patent medicine vendors and pharmacists in the state who sell unregistered or expired drugs to desist or risk severe sanctions.
He advised people to always check to ensure drugs they were buying were registered with NAFDAC and not expired.
The coordinator also enjoined citizens not to patronise drug hawkers as their products were exposed to sun and often lose its efficacy.
