The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) confiscated 70,000 containers of fake anti-malaria drugs worth N32 million illegally imported into the country in May 2009.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii, made the announcement yesterday in Yola when he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa.

He said the agency had also in January this year, confiscated N10 million worth of Lonart, an anti-malaria drug, illegally imported into the country.

Orhii said the drugs were intercepted and confiscated by personnels of the agency on routine checks.

Orhii, who is in Adamawa for a sensitisation workshop on the dangers of abuse and improper handling of chemicals and pesticides, said the agency was collaborating with some countries to check the importation of fake drugs.

He said the countries were India, China and Egypt, noting that the agency had also made proposals for a review of its laws for more punitive sanctions for offenders.

Responding, Nyako said Vision 2020 would only be realistic if Nigerians were provided with quality foods and drugs.

He said the vision would continue to remain elusive unless the nutritional values of the country’s food were standardised to enable the people to be in the right frame of mind to think positively.

Nyako attributed most of the ailments afflicting Nigerians to lack of quality foods, noting that "nowadays, most Nigerian children have stunted growth due to the lack of good food".

He commended NAFDAC for its credible performance, and promised to liaise with other governors to prevail on legislators from their states to ensure that some of the agency’s laws were reviewed. (NAN)