NAFDAC Shuts Maiduguri Market Where Traders Sundried Drugs For Resale After Devastating Flood

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down the Gomboru drug market in Maiduguri, Borno State, where contaminated drugs were washed and sun-dried for resale following the devastating flood that hit the state.

A post on the agencies 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.

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 claimed at least 30 lives and forced 400,000 people from their homes.

“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 households, and upwards of 150,000 people, were hit by the subsequent rapid rise of waters.

At least 286 inmates have reportedly escaped from the Maiduguri Medium Security Custodial Centre following severe flooding.

NEMA also said about 80 per cent of animals in the zoo have died, while 20 per cent have escaped into the metropolis.