The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has demanded for a total policy re-evaluation and reversal of the ongoing operation by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, in Onitsha Drug Market.
Intersociety alleged that each trader was being forced to part with at least N900,000 as a pre-condition for the person’s shop to be unsealed.
It made the demand in a statement on Saturday where it chronicled alleged anomalies being carried out by NAFDAC operatives under the guise of executing operations against unwholesome drugs.
The statement was signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, Intersociety, Chinwe Umeche, Esquire, Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esquire, Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.
It demanded “total reversion of all the harsh and stringent conditions imposed on the affected traders of the Market.”;
According to Intersociety, there should be discontinuation of imposition and collection of the referenced levies “which are unwarranted and extortionist, such as N700,000 Poor Storage Fees per store, ‘N200,000 Poor Storage Fees per packing store and N200,000 Fee for each brand of unregistered multinational drugs per trader’, among others.
“Those already forced to pay them should be refunded and; account of which are publicly rendered by NAFDAC.”;
It added that, “The AGENCY’s policy of forcing traders to sign NAFDAC-issued incriminating undertakings should be discontinued and those already forcefully signed cancelled.
“It is a clear case of collective punishment and ethnically biased policy for NAFDAC to have raided the Onitsha Drug Market and carted away presumably all ‘unwanted drugs’ and have them seized till date, only for the same NAFDAC to turn around and punitively used same collective punishment policy to prevent traders of the Market from resuming trade on their remainder non-illicit drugs; having had the all illicit ones and substantially licit others seized and carted away till date; more so when the exercise was carried out in the absence of the owners of the shops, during which over 4,000 shops and packing stores or more than 95% of the entire Market Stores were affected or broken into.”;
Intersociety further claimed that, “NAFDAC was also found to have erred in law and morality by punitively and still placing more than 95% of Market’s stores under lock and key till date, in addition to blanket imposition of a flurry of stringent and collective punishment conditions on the traders of the Market.
“We hereby demand unconditional re-opening of the Market and thorough investigations into the entire operations by the Agency.
“The NAFDAC Director in charge of the South-East, Dr Martins Iluyomade and all key officials of the Agency in charge of the operations in the Zone have overstayed their usefulness or welcome and must be removed, thoroughly investigated and severely sanctioned if indicted.”;
