NIGERIA (Osun) - The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Osun on Monday said it destroyed fake products worth N4 million in the state in 2013.

NAFDAC’s State Director, Mr Kayode Fagboyo, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Osogbo that the counterfeit drugs were destroyed at the agency’s zonal headquarters dump site in Sagamu, Ogun.

Fagboyo said the products destroyed by the agency included drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and food.

The NAFDAC chief said that the agency was trying as much as possible to rid the state of fake and unwholesome products to safeguard the health of the citizenry.

Fagboyo also said the agency had embarked on series of sensitisation programmes on the need for the people to patronise only NAFDAC-approved pharmaceutical stores, cosmetics and food products.

He further said the agency had organised a workshop for patent medicine dealers on the need to ensure that only drugs and products approved by the agency were being sold.

Fagboyo also said that NAFDAC officers were regularly inspecting pharmaceutical stores and cosmetic shops to stop the free-flow of unwholesome products in the state.

He said NYSC members were also being used as the agency’s “foot soldiers” to educate residents on the need to buy products from registered pharmaceutical and patent medicine stores.

“Our message to the people is that whenever they are buying NAFDAC- regulated products, they should always check for manufacture date, expiry date and batch number.

“They should also ensure that they get a receipt with a traceable address for all the products they buy. They should also desist from patronising drug hawkers.

“When you buy drugs from the hawkers, even if the drugs have not expired, but due to the condition they have been subjected to, the potency will be lost.

“We are doing a lot to ensure that the lives of the citizens of the state and the country are secure and the citizenry must also cooperate with us.

“This year, we are determined that only those who are ready and willing to do it well will remain in business. That is our hope and determination,” Fagboyo said.