NAFDAC North-East food, drug safety workshop opens

Gov Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State, yesterday, declared open a workshop titled “Protecting Public Health Through Proper Storage of Food, Rational Use of Controlled Medicines, Pesticides, and Safe Handling of Chemicals,” at the Yobe Cultural Centre, Damaturu.
The workshop was organised by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Yobe State Government.
The governor, who described the workshop as a bold step, said it was meant “to enlighten the public about the dangers posed by irrational use of drugs, pesticides and chemicals.”
Through the workshop, the governor stated that the public would be kept abreast of the “unpleasant and tragic consequences for society, if left unchecked.”
He also commended the agency for introducing innovative technologies, such as mobile authentication devices, as means of reducing and checking the manufacture and importation of fake and sub-standard drugs into the country.
Gaidam, however, regretted that despite the efforts of concerned agencies, the problem of drug abuse remained among some youth in the country. This problem, he noted, has reached alarming proportions,  leading to increase in crime rate, since drug addiction makes the addicts vulnerable to crime.
He assured NAFDAC that the Yobe State Government would remain an active partner every step of the way, as NAFDAC and other stakeholders work to make the drugs people consume and the foods they eat and the chemicals they use safe and healthy.
NAFDAC’s acting Director-General, Mrs. Yetunde Oluremi Oni, said that the essence of regulation and control of products under her agency’s purview was “to protect public health by ensuring that only the right, quality-regulated products that are safe, efficacious and wholesome reach the market, and, ultimately, the consuming public.”
Mrs. Oni noted, however, that NAFDAC’s effort to ensure that only quality, safe, efficacious, regulated products are made available to the public was being “sabotaged by unscrupulous fakers and counterfeit products,” and “the management of NAFDAC has constantly been fighting against this global menace.”
The NAFDAC boss also spoke on the challenge of misapplication and misuse of pesticides and herbicides, especially among farmers in the state and the country in general, which, she said, has led to the rejection of value-added agricultural produce in the international market.
“There are also the health risks associated with the misuse of chemicals, such as cancer and damage to vital human organs, when such products are consumed. Hence the need for sensitisation and training of farmers on the appropriate and safe use of pesticides.
“NAFDAC continues to educate farmers and herders and other handlers on the safe and responsible use of agrochemicals. The Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure for Chemical Regulation and Control have been reviewed to address emerging issues,” she said.