NAFDAC SHUTS GOMBORU DRUG MARKET MAIDUGURI WHERE TAINTED PHARMACEUTICALS ARE SUN-DRIED FOR RESALE AFTER DEVASTATING FLOOD

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has closed the Gomboru drug market in Maiduguri, Borno State, where tainted pharmaceuticals were washed and sun-dried for resale following the disastrous flood that struck the state.

A tweet on the agency’s X account stated that it ordered the closure of the drug market after recent flooding submerged it and tainted the products.

“After the recent flooding in Maiduguri that submerged the Gomboru drug market where contaminated drugs were washed and sun-dried for resale, the @DGatNAFDAC ordered the immediate closure of the market to conduct a thorough shop-to-shop removal of these compromised drugs,” NAFDAC wrote.

The Maiduguri flood catastrophe was triggered by the collapse of the Alau dam on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Maiduguri.

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The extreme flooding killed at least 30 lives and displaced 400,000 people.

“The death toll is 30,” National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Ezekiel Manzo told AFP a day after water from an overflowing dam swept away thousands of homes in the capital city of Borno state.

“The situation in Maiduguri is quite frightening,” said Manzo’s NEMA colleague Zubaida Umar.

“The flood has taken over around 40 per cent of the entire city. People have been forced out of their homes and are scattered everywhere.

“From our statistics, we have 414,000 displaced people,” Umar said. He told the BBC’s Hausa language service that officials feared that number could reach one million.

According to NEMA, more than 23,000 houses and up to 150,000 individuals were affected by the ensuing quick rise of waters.

Following severe flooding, at least 286 detainees reportedly fled from the Maiduguri Medium Security Custodial Centre.

NEMA also stated that approximately 80% of the animals in the zoo had died, while 20% had fled into the metropolis.