By Bisola Adeyemo
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) has warned the general public to desist from patronising local medicines including herbal concoctions.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, gave the warning during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday.
While condemning the local concoction, the NAFDAC boss, said any drug being hawked on the streets or in buses should be avoided because of the uncertainty of its source and lack of storage standards.
She said, “For the liquid herbal concoctions, especially after four or five days, they start growing bacteria.
“Even if the herbal concoction has some medicinal properties, the bacteria will kill the person that is taking it first.”
Adeyeye, however, said some of the herbal medicines work but consumers must ensure that they had passed NAFDAC’s safety and efficacy tests.
“Many of our herbal medicines work but we have to do a lot of research to show how they work, and at what level are we supposed to be taking them so that it will not get to the toxicity level,” she added.
She added that the agency is working with international partners to ensure Nigeria gets COVID-19 vaccines with long expiration date.