The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria’s food and drug regulatory agency, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the leadership of Eziukwu Road Market (Cemetery Market), as it moves to rid the market of manufacturers of fake products.
The MoU also sets the stage for the reopening of the market, which was sealed by NAFDAC taskforce team on a mission to sanitise the market.
Business activities at the market was disrupted Monday, December 11, 2023, by the raid, with about 300 shops and business premises sealed and about 15 fake products manufacturers apprehended by NAFDAC officials.
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Top on the terms of the MoU is the agreement for NAFDAC operatives to carry out similar raids in future without any prior information to both the leadership and market operators.
According to a release issued on Thursday December 14, 2023 by the spokesperson of Eziukwu Road market Igbo Bu Igbo and made available to BusinessDay, the market leadership warned traders and other users of the market to be mindful of what they deal on, as the MoU contains other strict conditions that target fake and counterfeit products manufacturers.
The leadership further noted that the MoU has empowered NAFDAC to carry out its operations at the market anytime without hinderances.
The market leadership on its part has pledged its unalloyed support and cooperation to NAFDAC in its efforts to ride the county of fake and counterfeit products, adding that the leadership since its inauguration a few months ago has made no pretention of its readiness to stamp out all perceived sharp business practices within the market.
To this end, the leadership has warned that it will neither shield nor come to the aid of anybody found to be aiding and abetting business activities that pose a serious threat to the lives of innocent people.
