THE National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday sealed two shops in Benin for allegedly selling chemicals without licence and requisite safety measures.
The shops are Golden Juliros Nigeria Ltd located on the Evbiemwen Street, Off Wire Road and Onebamchi Chemicals at Ramat Park market in Benin.
The operations were conducted by officials of the agency’s Investigation and Enforcement Unit from Asaba and Edo offices.
Mrs Esther Itua, Edo Coordinator of NAFDAC said the two shops had been under surveillance for years, and the owners defied the advice to come for listing as chemical dealers.
“One of the statutory mandates of NAFDAC is to monitor and control the manufacture, distribution, sales, advert and use of regulated products including chemicals.
“For clients or people that want to deal in chemicals locally, there is what is called chemical listing. It is like a licence that is issued by the agency to those people that sell chemicals locally.
“Before that licence is issued, there are certain conditions that must be met such as a registration as a company in Nigeria, warehouse to store the chemicals, staff, among other requirements,” she said.
The coordinator noted, however, the shops failed to perfect those conditions that could warrant the agency to inspect the facility.
“We have monitored that place for years, but waiting for when we will meet the owners
“We have realised Golden Juliros is one of the major chemical dealers in Edo.
“She is the major source of chemicals in Edo. We have been encouraging her to come for her chemical listing. It is renewable every two years.
“The facility is well located, but also operate without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), particularly nose masks for staff,” she said.
Itua said taskforce from Asaba was involved in the task because of the magnitude of the two facilities.
