Abuja (Nigeria): The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday in Abuja sealed two Chinese supermarkets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The supermarkets, located at No. 40 Mike Akhigbe Way, Jabi, and No. 61 Ebitu Ukiwe Street, also in Jabi, were sealed for allegedly selling goods that were not approved in the country.
The agency also put on hold eight other shops at the Wuse market for selling aphrodisiac sex enhancement pills.
They were also found to be selling body enlargement creams and drugs for the breasts and buttocks, including other toxic substances produced with dangerous chemicals.
Mr Embugushiki-Musa Godiya, Head of the NAFDAC Investigation and Enforcement unit in Abuja, said during the enforcement operation that the exercise was in response to consumer complaints.
He stated that the market value of the products seized during the raids is approximately N170 million.
He said that the sellers of the products had declared themselves doctors and pharmacists prescribing drugs for unsuspecting Nigerians.
“They also have some of these products, which they popularly call kayanmata oil. These individuals established a market in the banking premises.
“The agency got the complaint, and we cannot be here and allow such a thing to happen.
“We responded to that consumer complaint; we visited the place and we raided quite several shops carrying all manner of unapproved products by NAFDAC,” he said.
Regarding the closure of Chinese supermarkets, Godiya stated that the agency also acted on intelligence gathered from concerned citizens, indicating that some supermarkets belonged to foreign nationals.
He stated that these foreign nationals were alleged to have brought certain items into Nigeria, most of which were food items, and these items were labelled in the Chinese language without any English translation.
Godiya said the action violated NAFDAC labelling regulation, adding that those supermarkets operated without approval from NAFDAC.
“We have seized all the offending items we found in the supermarkets.
“In one of the places that we could not evacuate all the items we found, we placed the whole warehouse on hold; we have invited the owner for further investigation,” he said.
“We cannot guarantee the safety and the quality of these products, NAFDAC has not evaluated, assessed or analysed them,” he said.
Godiya urged Nigerians to be vigilant about what they buy and consume.