March 6, 2025
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, on Thursday, reopened the Onitsha drug market following a sanitisation and sensitization operations since on February 10, 2025.
In addition to the drug market, the Plumbing, Wood, Science Progressive, and Surgical markets were also reopened.
NAFDAC Director of Enugu Zone Zonal Operations, Dr. Martin Iluyomade, announced the reopening during a stakeholders.
Present at the meeting were representatives from NAFDAC, Anambra State, and the Onitsha market leaderships.
READ MORE; Governor Soludo Seeks FG’s Assistance To Rid Onitsha Markets Of Banned Drugs
Iluyomade clarified that the reopening was not intended to penalize neighbouring markets, which had unfortunately become major warehouse locations for medicine traders.
He emphasized that the operation was based on extensive intelligence gathering and that the closure was necessary to prevent confrontation with traders, stating that discovery in the market was alarming, that large quantities of narcotics capable of destabilizing any nation were recovered from the market.
“We found fake and counterfeit medicines in over 50 trailers, along with banned drugs dating back to 2007,” he noted.
Although the market has been reopened, about 4,000 shop owners who were profiled and suspended, they are required to as a must, individually visit NAFDAC to clear themselves before they can resume business.
Iluyomade also condemned the poor storage conditions within which drugs were stored in the market, which compromised the quality of genuine medicines.
He expressed appreciation to the state Governor, Chukwuma Soludo for his support and commitment to ensuring a standard drug market with proper storage facilities devoid of fake and adulterated products.
As part of its ongoing nationwide clampdown on fake and substandard medicine, NAFDAC had shut down the Ọgbọ Ọgwụ drug market in Onitsha
