The Anambra State government has called for an end to the lingering dispute between the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and the traders inside the popular Ogbo-Ogwu Drug Market in Onitsha over the reopening of the market.

Operatives of NAFDAC led by the Director, South-East zone, Martins Iluyomade, had shut the market on February 15, 2025, after uncovering over 10 trucks of fake products worth N1tn.

The agency later destroyed the fake drugs at the ASWAMA dump site in Awka, the state capital after the exercise.

However, the affected traders condemned the move, describing it as ?scandalous, outrageous and reprehensible?.

They accused NAFDAC of imposing a N700,000 fine on each of them before reopening their shops, saying documented evidence showed that over 1,000 shop owners have paid the contentious access fee.

The aggrieved traders, under the aegis of United Nigeria Group, subsequently dragged the agency before the Federal High Court sitting in Awka, praying the court to enforce their fundamental rights, including the immediate reopening of the market.

However, the agency has dismissed rumours of extortion or arbitrary sanctions in the wake of its sweeping drug market crackdown, clarifying that all investigative charges imposed on traders were federally gazetted and lawful.

Reacting, the Anambra State government on Saturday called for an end to the dispute, urging the traders and NAFDAC to embrace peace.

In an interview with PUNCH Online, the state Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, said officials of the state government had engaged with the NAFDAC Director in charge of South-East and South-South in a bid to broker peace.

He noted that contrary to wide reports, only five per cent of shops in the market are still under lock and key as others had been reopened since March 7, 2025.

According to Mefor, the traders have complained that the NAFDAC fine is unaffordable and some of them are hiding to avoid being profiled by the agency.

The commissioner said, ?The government wants all the shops speedily reopened and therefore appeal to both NAFDAC and affected traders to cooperate to make the exercise seamless and end it forthwith.?

He added that if the NAFDAC fine is not lawful, ?the traders know what to do, and if lawful, NAFDAC should temper justice with human face.?

He ?urther assured the traders and NAFDAC that the issue of substandard storage facility will soon be over as the market will be relocated to a central drug hub at the Oba area of the state. (Saturday PUNCH)

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