The Federal Ministry of Health (FMH), has banned 2.4 million bottles of cough syrup containing codeine, after a recent audit of the substance carried out by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

According to a statement by the ministry’s Director of Media and Public Relations, Mrs. Boade Akinola, in Abuja, the recall demonstrated the Federal Government’s resolve to stem the abuse of codeine and other substances.

Akinola said, the minister has recently received the final report of the 22-man stakeholders committee set up by the ministry to address the worrisome menace of codeine abuse.

She quoted the Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole as saying that the audit and subsequent recall of the substance, was part of recommendations of the committee to address codeine abuse.

The minister said the committee members were drafted from a broad spectrum of the health sector in collaboration with relevant agencies as part of pharmacovigilance and renewed effort to monitor drug distribution channels and sanitise the system.

The minister recalled that the committee was an offshoot of the statement issued by the ministry on the temporary ban of Codeine production and distribution.

He said the committee has Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Christianah Adeyeye, as the chairman. Other members include Muhammad Abdullahi, Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Elijah Mohamed, the Registrar of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria; Mr. Moshood Lawal, Director, Food and Drugs Services, Federal Ministry of Health; Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) among others.

On May 1, the Federal Government banned the production and importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough syrup preparations to check substance abuse among Nigerians.

The minister directed NAFDAC to ban the issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparations.

He directed the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) and NAFDAC to supervise the recall for labeling and audit trailing of all codeine containing cough syrups nationwide.

The federal government had also banned the sale of cough syrup containing codeine without prescription.