The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has sealed the Gamboru drug market in Maiduguri, Borno State over illicit drug practices.
Among the illicit practices are washing and sun-drying of contaminated drugs for resale amid the devastating flood that hit the state.
It was gathered that the Maiduguri flood crisis was caused by the rupture of the Alau Dam on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Maiduguri.
The severe flooding has so far killed no fewer than 30 persons and forced 400,000 others from their homes.
The agency, in a post on its X handle, said it ordered the closure of the drug market after the recent flooding submerged the market, and the drugs became contaminated.
“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.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), through its spokesman, Ezekiel Manzo, the death toll has reached 30.
“The flood has taken over around 40 percent of the entire city. People have been forced out of their homes and are scattered everywhere,” he said.
