NAFDAC Advocates Death Penalty For Dealers/Manufacturers Of Fake Drugs
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC,
Mojisola Adeyeye, has advocated death penalty for dealers and manufacturers of fake and counterfeit products especially food and drugs.
The NAFDAC DG who stated this during a Television Program.on Friday, asserted that no other form of punishment is fitting enough for such grievous offences.
She gave instances of where the application of such dangerous substances in form of health drugs, had led to fatalities, and advocated that only stiff penalties would deter peddlers especially when deaths of children became involved.
The NAFDAC boss said: “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall.
“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty. Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine.”
She called on the National Assembly and the judiciary to make the proposal a reality, adding that the agency was open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter.
She added: “You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem.
“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000? That is part of our problem.
“There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.
“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff. But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die. We have a lot on our plate in stemming drug peddling.
“With about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities. So, when it comes to staffing, we are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better.”
