The director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control(NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii has identified  poverty and lack of knowledge as  the root cause of counterfeit drugs in the country.

Speaking at the day two of the international conference organised by  Centre for Drug Discovery Development  (CDDDP), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan on Thursday, he said counterfeiting of the products remains the biggest challenge confronting the agency."If you tell a woman consumer that a fake drug is N20 and a genuine drug is N100, she will tell you bring the fake one."This is why I said poverty contributed to counterfeiting I had a similar experience in my village," Orhil said.

The NAFDAC boss who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre, said both agencies needed to collaborate more effectively in the fight against unwholesome drugs. According to him, the center has a big potentials if well developed.

Speaking at an interactive session of the conference, day two at the inter national conference center University of Ibadan. He said counterfeiting of products remains the biggest challenge confronting the agency.

He disclosed that the agency was currently facing the challenges of eradicating fake NAFDAC number on products which is currently in circulation in different parts of the country.

He said the agency was doing all within its power to arrest those behind the act."The move to fake NAFDAC registration number is another strategy employed by people distributing fake products in the country," he said.

As a way of eradicating fake products, NAFDAC has introduced true scan method to consumers in order for them to detect genuine or fake products.

"By this method, consumers have the opportunity of scratching a PIN attached to a product and send the number seen to the number displayed in order to reveal whether a product is fake or genuine."When a consumer sends the number, he gets an instant message confirming whether a product is fake or genuine,"he added.

He expressed regrets that the agency in spite of its efforts to curb counterfeit drugs,the problem still persist in the country.The NAFDAC DG, condemned hawking of what he called "powerful drugs" by children in an open market. To eradicate the problem, Orhii said the agency had embarked on massive public enlightenment to educate the public.

Speaking, the Director of CDDDP, Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola, commended NAFDAC in its fight against unwholesome drugs adding that the MOU will further strengthen drug related issues in the country.

According to her, the mission of the center is to build capacity for Africa to make her own drugs from Africa