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From Desmond Mgboh Kano
A coalition of Kano elders, Saturday, insisted that members of the patent medicine dealers association must relocate to the Dungurawa Wholesale Drug Distributión Center where they would be well regulated.
Speaking at a press conference in Kano, their spokesperson ,Gidado Mukhtar, declared that anyone who will not respect the recent judgement affirming the relocation order should not expect to be accommodated in the state.
The elders regretted that over the years, calculated attempts had been made to destroy Kano through the importation of dangerous and illicit drugs by dealers operating inside Sabon Garri open market.
They held that statistics obtained from the NDLEA indicated that 5,040,000 pills of Tramadol weighing 267.4kg and 249,000 tablets of Exol-5 weighing 81.9 kg were siezed from January to date in the state..
The elders explained that troubled by the sordid state of illicit drugs, the state government initiated, through a PPP, the establishment of a wholesale pharmaceutical distribution market, but alleged that those involved in the illicit trade had been frustrating the relocation.
“It should be clearly noted that Kano State has been turned into a major consumption centre and exit point of the illicit drugs trade” they lamented.
They affirmed that no responsible government would allow illicit drugs to be sold openly and indiiscriminately in its state in clear violation of professional ethics.
“We as elders and patriotic citizens of our beloved state would like to make it clear that this unfortunate development will no longer be tolerated” they declared.
They called on the state government and the security agencies to redouble their efforts to ensure that the pharmaceutical traders relocate to the new market.
Sunday Sun reports that over 1321 drug shops operating in Sabon Garri market, Niger Road drug market and Mallam Kato Square owned by largely Igbo and Hausa patent medicine dealers have been sealed by officials of NAFDAC and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria following the high court judgement.
