•It’s time to step up the fight

The media recently reported, with pictures and videos, the array of fake products, including wines, soft drinks and other consumables, discovered at the Eziukwu market in Aba, Abia State, by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC). Ten suspects were reportedly arrested and the NAFDAC’s Director General (DG), Mojisola Adeyeye, told the media that the market would remain closed until the agency and the market operators reached an agreement that they would henceforth checkmate criminals who fake food and drugs in the market. Police had arrested about ten suspects from about 240 shops-turned factories that were raided.

Also, two men, one Imo Lawrence, aged 35, and his accomplice, Magnus Nwonka, aged 42, were recently arrested in the Ojo area of Lagos, where they were allegedly faking and bottling drinks. After the shocking discovery of fake drinks in Aba, the Lagos discovery reinforced the possibility that the production of fake drinks happens nationwide.

NAFDAC’s list of adulterated drinks in circulation includes Seaman Schnapps, Henessy, Four Cousins, Carlo Rossi, Jenney, Chelsea London Dry Gin, Schnapp Dry Gin, McDowells, Black Labels, Gordons, Martell, Campari, Smirnoff Ice, Eva Non-Alcoholic Drink, Evra Non-Alcoholic Drink, Cartel.

We are glad that NAFDAC raided the Eziukwu market, also called ‘Cemetery’ market, where they destroyed some of the fake products worth about N750m. Lamentably, the agency seems to have become lethargic since the tragic death of Prof. Dora Akunyili, its former Director General. Akunyili took the fight to the enemy. She even confronted countries producing adulterated drugs or serving as conduits for export to Nigeria and other West African countries.

The fight against fake and adulterated products is a serious fight because criminal gangs do everything to protect their criminality. Therefore, NAFDAC and other agencies of government charged with gatekeeping, investigations and policing must continually review their methods.

The NAFDAC DG, while commenting on the effects of consuming fake alcoholic drinks, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) says claims up to 3million lives annually, listed the side effects such as nausea, abdominal pains, pale skin, irregular and slow breathing, dizziness, drowsiness etc. but she failed to catalogue the effects on human organs of the consumption of fake and adulterated foods and drugs.

We believe that the increase in kidney and other sensitive organs’ ailments can be partly blamed on the consumption of fake foods and drugs. As she observed, those involved in the criminal activities are mostly hidden in very dirty and unhygienic buildings, and use harmful chemicals, cheaper sources of sugar, colouring, saccharin and starch. Many of those involved are not well trained, many are semi-literate and possibly employ the trial-and-error approach to production. They have no brand pride; they revel in faking other people’s popular brands.

Serious countries take the food and drug sector very seriously because fake products in the sector can take people’s lives. For instance, a pregnant woman who ingests any fake or adulterated drugs or food endangers both her life and that of her baby. Children are known to have died in large numbers due to fake baby food or drugs like cough syrup. The bad effects of fake and adulterated foods and drugs are unquantifiable.

However, while we blame NAFDAC for some of the lapses that make these quacks thrive, we also know that there is a cocktail of quackery in the country: fake doctors, fake soldiers, fake journalists, fake police, fake schools, fake orphanages, fake lawyers, and quackery in almost all sectors in the country, which obviously points to a crassly dysfunctional system.

If those quacks in Aba had products worth N750m, that means they have been long in the business of quackery. Why is it that NAFDAC, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Department of State Services (DSS), and other relevant agencies did not bust them earlier?

We wonder why NAFDAC does not do random searches in shops and supermarkets because those are the points of sale for those fake products. The criminals don’t supply straight to the consumers. Again, why does NAFDAC unilaterally close a market where other Nigerians doing their legitimate businesses earn their living just because some are dubious? That is impunity, and unjust.

We commend NAFDAC for promising that the arrested suspects would be prosecuted, and for giving consumers clues to the identification of fake products, such as the quality of the packaging, spelling mistakes, unusual bottle shapes and the smell of the products.

We believe that the agency or the government should be concerned enough to pay for ‘whistle blowing’ services by people whose identity must be protected by the government to save them from the criminals. There must be incentives for citizens to report any fishy movements because these products are done in compounds where other people live. In this respect, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has its job cut out for it.

Again, many foreigners are in Nigeria, taking advantage of the weak institutions, and faking or importing fake and adulterated products. Some Chinese, Lebanese, Indians and other nationals allegedly hide in factories, and use Nigerians for production of such products.

The Nigerian government must wake up and do due diligence diplomatically. Most of these foreigners invest hugely in technology used in faking products to the detriment of the people and the economy. Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment must do their work and get the bad ‘foreign investors’ arrested and prosecuted.

Nigeria must be ready to invest in its citizens so that a valued sense of citizenship can propel a sense of patriotism to save lives. Communities can, in addition to agencies like NAFDAC and SON, monitor fake products marketing to save lives, and improve the economy when real manufacturers are able to sell their own products. Unfortunately, most of the fake products are consumed by those whose job is to stop them from thriving in the first place. We hope the arrested suspects would be prosecuted and severely punished to serve as a deterrent.

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