Members of the Onitsha Drugs Dealers Association in Anambra State have insisted that the Drugs Market in Onitsha Bridgehead, is not a “dumping site” where fake drugs and hard drugs are produced and sold.
The association was reacting to reports making the rounds that an agency known as the National Association of Nigeria Drugs Monitoring had recently raided the Onitsha Bridge market over fake and expired drugs.
But while addressing a press conference in the market on Thursday, the Chairman of the association, Chukwuleta Ndubuisi, described the report as false, claiming that no agency raided the market of fake and adulterated drugs.
Ndubuisi, flanked by members of the association, distanced themselves from the production and distribution of fake, expired, unwholesome, counterfeit and substandard drugs in the market popularly known as the ‘Ogbogwu market’.
He pointed out that the group is working in synergy and collaboration with regulatory agencies to ensure fake and adulterated drugs do not find their way into the market.
He argued that the reports of the drug dealers dealing in fake and counterfeit products were the handiwork of mischief makers wanting to reap from where they did not sow.
The group added that they equally constituted a task force in place which checkmates the activities of their members in terms of fakery and hard drugs and report back to NAFDAC and NDLEA.
Ndubuisi said, “Count us out of production, sale of fake and adulterated drugs. We don’t know the source of information of these rumour mongers and peddlers but we want to inform the general public through this medium that such allegation is frivolous, unfounded and cheap blackmail circulated by faceless individuals to sabotage the efforts of the Union at ensure that the market was free of counterfeit drugs.
“It is on record that this incumbent executive led by my humble self had shortly on assumption of office, unleashed its task force on the entire market aimed at ridding it of any form of fake, expired, counterfeit and unwholesome products, including narcotics and hard drugs.”
