On Friday, the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in a strategic move to curb drug abuse in Nigeria, proposed the death penalty for drug peddlers.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye who made this known while speaking on Channels Television said only stiff penalties will deter drug peddlers especially when it leads to the death of children.
The NAFDAC DG said the agency is also seeking the cooperation of the judiciary and the National Assembly to make such a move a reality and is open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter.
โSomebody bought childrenโs medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall.
โThat raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty.
โBecause you donโt need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine.
You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, thereโs going to be a problem.
โSomebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesnโt know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000?
โThat is part of our problem. There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, weโre going to have a problem.
โSo, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.ย But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die,โ she said.
