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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has arrested a herbal medicine practitioner, Alhaji Salisu Sani aka Baban Aisha, for manufacturing medicines with expired registration license.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja, Director General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said Sani was also arrested for illegal advertisement and sale of Sacra Herbs oral liquid.
She said the agency had recently received reports and concerns on Sacra herbs oral liquid, popularly called Baban Aisha following an investigative report in the media.
Professor Adeyeye explained that in 2018, the agency received an application from Sacra Multi-Links Ltd, Layin Alhaji Hamza Mai Bread, Tafa Kagarko local government area, Kaduna State, for the registration of its product Sacra Herbs oral liquid.
She said following regulatory protocols, the agency granted listing approval with NAFDAC registration number A7-2590L for the Sacra Herbs oral liquid for the purpose of management of pile and associated pains, adding that the notification of the registration of the product was granted on the 6th September, 2018 valid till 12th September, 2019.
However, she said the company’s licence was not renewed in 2020 because it did not comply with directives it was issued during the renewal application.
“The agency also did not receive any application for advertisement of the Sacra herb to warrant the illegal advertisement of the herbal preparation. It is worthy of note that the Sacra herb which licence expired in 2019 was approved for the management of pile and associated pains, while the company went beyond bound prescribing the medicines for unfounded indications such as for the treatment of waist pains, typhoid, ulcer, pile, toilet infection etc,” she said.
The NAFDAC boss said following the viral social media outburst on the nefarious activities of Sacra Multi Links, the investigation and enforcement directorate of NAFDAC carried out surveillance followed by enforcement action leading to the sealing of the factory and the arrest of two staff of the company who were complicit in the criminal act.
She said the agency has commenced a nationwide mop-up of the Sacra Herbs in circulation, adding that it has also intensified crack down on all illegal manufacturers and distributors of herbal preparation and other unregistered preparations, with a view to bring perpetrators to book and minimize the usage of the substance.
She said the agency also recently clamped down on some distributors of a herbal medicines called Hajia Ayisha Special Snuff AK 47 as a result of intelligence report that the herbal medicines are mainly in the northern part of Nigeria.
She said “Findings revealed that the herbal snuff were manufactured in Ghana and was approved for use as an analgesic by the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) of Ghana. But is being wrongly packaged and passed-off as a snuff for the Nigerian market.”
While saying that there was an alarming trend in the use of the poisonous preparations by wide sections of the populace, she said the snuff, popularly called ” Shake” or ” Angoro ” herbal powder comes under different street names, such as: AK 47, Moringa, Black coffee (Dan Kano), Magic powder, Lufthansa, Desert Warrior, etc.
She called for the support of health practitioners, community leaders, religious leaders, the press, and all stakeholders to continue to educate their wards and family members to desist from patronizing quacks and hawkers of medicines on the street.
She advised consumers of NAFDAC regulated products to be watchful of drug, food, and other regulated products they purchase and should not hesitate to report any suspicious activities within their environment to the nearest NAFDAC office.
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