The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has proposed the death penalty for drug peddlers, particularly those responsible for distributing fake and substandard medicines that lead to fatalities.
NAFDAC’s Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, made this call during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday.
She argued that only strict penalties would deter drug traffickers, especially when their actions result in the deaths of innocent children.
Adeyeye recounted a recent case that raised alarms within the agency. She revealed that a particular children's medicine, which typically costs N13,000, was being sold for N3,000 in the same shopping mall. Upon testing the product at NAFDAC’s Kaduna laboratory, it was discovered that the medicine contained no active ingredients.
Shocked by such brazen acts of criminality, Adeyeye declared, “I want the death penalty. You don’t need to put a gun to a child’s head to kill them. Just give them bad medicine.”
The NAFDAC boss stressed that the current legal framework is too weak to effectively deter offenders. She highlighted an instance where an individual was caught importing 225mg of Tramadol, a dangerously high dosage that can severely damage the brain or even kill a person.
Despite the severity of the crime, the punishment was merely a five-year prison sentence or a N250,000 fine an amount she pointed out could be easily withdrawn from an ATM.
Adeyeye emphasized that without harsher penalties, drug peddlers will continue to exploit legal loopholes, putting millions of lives at risk.
She called on the judiciary and the National Assembly to support NAFDAC’s push for stricter laws and ensure that penalties for such offenses are severe enough to discourage repeat offenders.
“You cannot fight substandard and falsified medicines in isolation. The agency can only do so much, but if our laws are not strong enough or the judiciary is not firm in its stance, we will continue to face this challenge,” she said.
She confirmed that NAFDAC is actively engaging with lawmakers and stakeholders to strengthen drug regulations and implement stiffer penalties for offenders.
“If you kill a child with bad medicine, you deserve to die,” she concluded.
As NAFDAC intensifies its push for capital punishment for drug peddlers, the debate over the ethical and legal implications of the death penalty is expected to spark nationwide discussions among policymakers, human rights groups, and the general public.