To stem the dangerous tide of drug hawking and ripening of fruits with calcium carbide, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has warned that anyone found culpable will be arrested, prosecuted as well as serve a jail term.

The agency sounded this warning in Lagos, during a sensitisation workshop on Dangers of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Carbide.

Declaring the workshop open, the director general of NAFDAC, Prof Christianah Adeyeye assured that the agency’s enforcement officers are currently carrying out synchronised nationwide operation.

Represented by the Director, Chemical Evaluation & Research, Dr Leonard Omokpariola, she noted that there have been clarion calls by well-meaning Nigerians on the need to take stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide.

In addition, she said that several national dailies and non-governmental organizations have raised concerns on the looming danger and health implication of these two nefarious activities by certain unpatriotic an unscrupulous citizens in our country.

According to Adeyeye, “2019, we immediately took some decisive steps such as sensitization of the public through different media outlets, enforcement through intelligence and raids in fruit markets that have resulted in seizures and destruction of violative products”.

She assured that the flag – off for this sensitization workshop was again a fulfilment of my promise to sustain and strengthen NAFDAC’s existing collaboration with Association of Health Journalists in Nigeria towards mobilizing, educating, sensitizing, and conscientizing Nigerian Journalists to play frontline role in our concerted efforts to eradicate the menace of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide in Nigeria.

“It is my candid opinion that sensitization workshop of this nature is a training the Trainers’ programme with the great expectation that participants will assume the role of champions in the vanguard of the campaign against drug hawking and the use of calcium carbide to ripen fruits.

You will recall that NAFDAC recently organised similar sensitization workshops in eight cities across the country to raise awareness on the dangers of using bleaching creams.

This was in line with my resolve to intensify and widen the scope of our publicity and public awareness campaigns as part of the transformative programmes of my second tenure of office.

I wish to assure you that NAFDAC will constantly engage the mass media as we strive to bring down to the grassroot level positive impacts of our regulatory activities.

The Agency has noticed the dangerous practice of sale and consumption of fruits artificially ripened with calcium carbide as well as illegal hawking of drugs in the open market”.