The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has disclosed that it seized tramadol worth over N1.1 trillion from entering the country following intelligence gathered by the agency.
NAFDAC also announced that about N1.3 million worth of falsified, banned and counterfeited products were seized during its recent raid.
In Abuja on Tuesday, the agency’s Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye recalled that NAFDAC was not at the nation’s ports for seven years between 2011 and 16th May 2018.
Adeyeye was appointed as NAFDAC DG in November 2017.
She said: “We have been doing a lot since my resumption. At the point when I came in, we were swimming in tramadol as a country.
“At that point, there were some issues with NDLEA (National Drug Law Enforcement Agency) and they also called us to action. So my first six months, I was running after tramadol.
“We have seized over N1.7 trillion worth of tramadol containers since that time.
“We were called by an informant at high places that we should expect 31 containers of tramadol that were labelled as building materials. It was only one out of the containers that contained building materials.
“Those containers are worth about N1.7 trillion. NDLEA has stepped up its game and I commend the General Brig. General Buba Marwa”.
Marwa became NDLEA helmsman in January, last year.
The NAFDAC boss, however, said the agency required more staff members to carry out enforcement and surveillance activities.