Health Minister swings into action over imported item

isaac dachen

February 21, 2017 2:59 PM

The Minister of Health has decided to wade into the controversy surrounding Indian-Packaged garri that has made its way into the Nigerian market.

Prof. Isaac Adewole

The Federal Government of Nigeria has swung into action following the discovery of

To this effect, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has mandated the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to immediately investigate the circumstances surrounding the influx of the garri which has caused anger and uproar in the country following the discovery.

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Prof. Adewole took to his Twitter handle to announce measures taken by the FG to curb the unregistered imported garri from further finding its way into the country.

Prof. Adewole, among other things, declared that his ministry has mandated a thorough investigation into the product as well as take action to see if it would be dangerous to the health of consumers.

Reacting to a tweet by Babatunde Alabi, Prof. Adewole said his ministry has mandated NAFDAC to commence critical investigations and proper actions will be taken on this matter.

This is what Bello tweeted:

"Imported Garri from India now on the shelves of supermarkets in Nigeria?!"

Prof. Adewole immediately responded thus:

'On Imported ‘India Garri’ Pt. 1 — NAFDAC

This is the tweet that first caught our attention on Sunday, 19th February 2017. It is about a certain pack of Imported Garri with the source given as India, which was found on the shelve of a Nigerian supermarket. (See below)

We knew we had work to do, and Monday 20th we did. Our actions and findings are outlined below:

1. NAFDAC Officers visited the Supermarket in Ikoyi today

2. 26 packets of 500mg each of the products were seized for analysis

3. The product has no NAFDAC number

4. The product is said to be from Ghana but packaged in the UK

5. The Management of the Supermarket has been invited for further discussion in our Lagos office.'

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See the tweets here:

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