Kebbi state office of National agency for food, drugs administration and control NAFDAC, has said it has concluded plans to crackdown on warehouse owners over unsafe practices and lack of registrations.
The state coordinator,Muyideen Sulaiman gave the hint in Birnin Kebbi, during stakeholders meeting with the leadership of traders from the 21 local governments in the state, water manufacturers and small scale and medium enterprises MSME to senstise them on the need for them to educate their members to register to desist from buying and selling of expired and unregistered products in Kebbi markets.
He warned those market leaders who shield offenders saying doing so is a criminal act which attracts penalty lamenting that, sometimes they unleash armed thugs to disrupt their operations in the market.
Sulaiman stated that, traders are in the habit of re-bagging of expired products to evade loss of the products which constitute serious health hazards to the unsuspecting members of the public therefore the agency is there to protect consumers by not allowing such unsavoury acts.
On warehouse operations, he said some products cant stand extreme heat as such every warehouse must be adequately ventilated for the safety of the products and the consumers as most consumables are fortified so if exposed to heat they lose the fortifications and even become toxic and causes diseases like cancer, liver and heart problems ” every warehouse owner must register it after the facility has been properly inspected by officials of the agency as certified safe for storage otherwise they will get the seal he said “.
While lamenting the practices of small scale and medium enterprises, he urged them to always notify the agency of their relocation before they continue production in the new place otherwise such products would be mop off in the markets and are considered unregistered.
He urged them to use the window period opened for SMSEs to register their products as penalties for late licence renewal has been removed from January to March, 2024, but beyond the period late licence renewal attracts complete payments.
Benjamin Kosuma delivered lecture on how to keep the warehouse safe which include checks at intervals,Hassan Auta lectured on the dangers and penalties of expired products.
