{"id":156953,"date":"2025-03-27T12:03:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry"},"modified":"2025-04-04T13:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T12:58:17","slug":"onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry","title":{"rendered":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent legislative Public Hearing and Judicial Commission of Enquiry to evidently ascertain alleged \u201coutside-the-law\u201d roles played by deployed field operatives of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and its deployed security agents, amid the prolonged closure of the Onitsha Drug Market.<\/p>\n<p>Intersociety said of particular mention are soldiers of the Nigerian Army under Onitsha 302 Cantonment and operatives of the Nigeria Police Force under Anambra State Police Command and possibly Zone 13 of the Force.<\/p>\n<p>It made the demand in a statement issued on Wednesday, signed by Chinwe Umeche, Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program, Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam, Head, Campaign and Publicity, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law and Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, Intersociety.<\/p>\n<p>The group said the two Public Hearings under demand would frontally and comprehensively address five key disturbing issues.<\/p>\n<p>Intersociety identified the issues as \u201chear the voices of genuine drug traders and ascertain losses incurred during the looting of their shops, hear how their shops were broken into in their absence and billions of Naira worth of genuine drugs confiscated and carted away, unmask operational illegalities of NAFDAC and its deployed soldiers and police personnel, prevent looming crisis and imminent loss of lives and properties in the Market, and find short-term political solution through all-inclusive legislative public hearing to re-open the Market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While noting that Gov Charles Soludo and the Speaker Somtochukwu Udeze\u2019s visits and actions were not good enough, the group said, \u201cAs democratic leaders of the State, Gov Soludo and Speaker Udeze must further be made to know that they owe the traders of the Onitsha Drug Market a political and moral duty to protect them and their legitimate business interests, in addition to coming to their aid in this type of critical and life-threatening situation.<\/p>\n<p>The two democratic leaders also have a duty to find short-term and long-term solutions to the Onitsha Drug Market-NAFDAC impasse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch short-term measures include prevailing on NAFDAC to re-open the Market and render public account of its operations in the Market while the long-term solutions must include working out favorable terms and conditions under which traders of the Market can legitimately engage in the trade under favorable trading environment including building a new ultra-modern international drug market of the World Health Organization specification.<\/p>\n<p>NAFDAC\u2019s blanket imposition of N500,000 on every sealed shop, including boutique and food vendors\u2019 shops in the Market as \u2018Poor Storage Fee\u2019 is a clear case of brazen regulatory extortion and persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While lamenting the prolonged closure of the market, Intersociety said, \u201cemerging facts have further shown that the NAFDAC blanket closure of Onitsha Drug Market has taken incalculable toll on traders and members of their nuclear and extended families as well as members of the public at large.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Market\u2019s closure has also entered its 47th day today being Wednesday, March 26, 2025, owing to stringent and glaringly extortionist terms and conditions imposed on traders as conditions for re-opening of the Market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is also shocking that NAFDAC has been transformed from \u201cpublic food and drug security regulatory and sanitizing agency of the Federation to revenue generation or extortionist agency of the Federation, brought about by the Agency\u2019s decision to impose sundry extortionist fees on traders of Onitsha Drug Market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe estimated 12, 000 traders of the Market including their apprentices and salesgirls estimated at 5,000 and their market stalls numbering about 5,000 have gone through militarization and trauma from February 9 to March 9, 2025, after which their Market remained under lock and key till date; losing over 25 (40ft) containers of drugs estimated at over N800b.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlready recorded are scores of untimely deaths involving traders of the Market and thousands of untimely deaths expected from members of the public affected by scarcity and high cost of life saving and general health drugs.<\/p>\n<p>It also alleged that the Agency went further and imposed \u201cN5m fee to be paid by every importer of unregistered multinational drugs\/per brand, N1.25m for every importer of loose pack (imported drugs with separated packs and tablets or capsules)\/per brand, and N200,000 for every retailer of unregistered multinational drugs\/per brand\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The group further claimed that one Ms. Sophia Eberechukwu Okoye from Ezinifite-Aguata in Anambra State had her boutique looted, thereby losing over N15m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMs. Ebere Okoye\u2019s Boutique shop was also ransacked and turned upside down after having been looted. Evidence on the ground including video clips and CCTV footage also strongly linked NAFDAC to the dastardly act,\u201d Intersociety alleged.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent legislative Public Hearing and Judicial Commission of Enquiry to evidently ascertain alleged \u201coutside-the-law\u201d roles played by deployed field operatives of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":156952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254,15826],"class_list":["post-156953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria","tag-onitsha-drug-market"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-27T11:03:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T12:58:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"434\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-27T11:03:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T12:58:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\"},\"wordCount\":786,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"Onitsha drug market\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\",\"name\":\"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-27T11:03:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T12:58:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":434,\"caption\":\"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry - Nigeria","description":"A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry","og_description":"A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-03-27T11:03:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-04T12:58:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":434,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry","datePublished":"2025-03-27T11:03:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-04T12:58:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry"},"wordCount":786,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg","keywords":["Nigeria","Onitsha drug market"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry","name":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-27T11:03:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-04T12:58:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for urgent ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1743066450.164811.jpg","width":720,"height":434,"caption":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/onitsha-drug-market-intersociety-demands-urgent-commission-of-enquiry#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Onitsha Drug Market: Intersociety demands urgent Commission of Enquiry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}