The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said it would begin an intensive campaign against substandard products in the country.

The exercise, NAFDAC said, became necessary in view of the highly unregulated products which posed inherent danger to the health of consumers.

NAFDAC’s Director-General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known at a press briefing on the occasion of flagoff of the planned action on Wednesday in Abuja.

She insisted that substandard products were prevalent in all the states of the federation, adding that the menace had reached an alarming stage that needed the agency’s prompt action.

Adeyeye disclosed that the campaigns will be organised in phases as the agency intends to cover all 36 states of the federation with the available resources. She added that the first phase will be held in selected states from August to September, 2021.

She further noted that a well informed, sensitized and educated citizenry is the bedrock of effective regulation and the citizens need to be informed about the deleterious effects of unwholesome food, falsified medical products, harmful cosmetics, poor water and other substandard products

She said “The key objective of this sensitization programme is to intensify and expand the scope of our informal and formal behaviour change especially at the grassroots

“Communication strategies are implored in order to reach the vulnerable communities, dissemination of food and drug safety information is an important aspect of our regulatory work, It is common knowledge that Nigeria has a preponderant share of the global problem of falsified medical products and unwholesome food.

“The advent of Covid-19 Pandemic has aggravated the problem with the challenge posed by substandard and falsified Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). The Sensitization campaigns will therefore contribute significantly to the Federal Government’s concerted efforts to inform, sensitize, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of those spurious regulated products”.