The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, has called for the death penalty for drug peddlers, particularly those whose actions lead to the death of children.
Adeyeye emphasized the need for stricter penalties to deter the circulation of substandard and falsified medicines, which she described as a grave threat to public health.
Speaking on a TV show, she highlighted a specific incident where a child’s medicine purchased for N13,000 was found to contain no active ingredients when tested in NAFDAC’s Kaduna laboratory.
She said, “Somebody bought children’s medicine for about N13,000, while another person was selling it for around N3,000 in the same mall. That raised an alarm. Guess what? When we tested the medicine in our Kaduna lab, there was nothing inside. So, I want the death penalty.”
She argued that such actions are tantamount to killing children, stating, “You don’t need to put a gun to a child’s head to kill them. Just give them bad medicine.”
The NAFDAC boss criticized the current legal framework, which she believes is insufficient to deter offenders.
For example, she pointed out that importing 225mg of Tramadol, a dosage that can be lethal or cause severe harm, carries a penalty of only five years in prison or a fine of N250,000, which she described as inadequate.
She explained, “Someone brought in 225mg of Tramadol, which can kill a person or fry their brain, and the punishment is just five years in prison or a fine of N250,000. Who doesn’t know that a person can simply withdraw N250,000 from an ATM? That is part of our problem; there are no strict measures to stop offenders from repeating the same crime. We can only do so much, but if our laws are not strong enough or the judiciary is not firm in its stance, we will continue to face this challenge. So, our judicial system must be strong enough. We are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties much stiffer.”
She stressed that without stricter laws and a firm judiciary, the problem of substandard and falsified medicines will persist.
Adeyeye called for collaboration with the judiciary and the National Assembly to enact harsher penalties, including the death penalty for those whose actions result in the death of children. She concluded by asserting, “If you kill a child with bad medicine, you deserve to die.”
This proposal underscores the growing concern over the proliferation of counterfeit and substandard drugs in Nigeria and the need for stronger regulatory and legal measures to protect public health.
