Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Members of the Kano State chapter of Nigeria Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers have embarked on a two-day strike in protest against the unlawful invasion of their premises by the officials of the Kano State Road Transport Agency, KAROTA.
Findings by Saturday Sun show that the strike has so far enjoyed total compliance by the protesting dealers as shops and stores belonging to their members at the Sabon-Market and in different other locations in the state capital were shut.
Sources close to the association disclosed that the medicine dealers have been suffering from the disruptive activities of several state agencies such as, KAROTA and Hisbah, who were said to be in the habit of arresting patent medicine dealers although they have no direct mandate over drugs and pharmaceutical goods.
The present protest followed last week’s unlawful invasion of their member’s pharmaceutical warehouse located along Airport Road, where the agency announced that it had confiscated fake and adulterated drugs worth N30 million.
It was gathered that officers of the agency swooped on the warehouse, seized the drugs and took the same to the office of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN), where they were advised to take them back as the drugs were legal and the premises duly registered.
“When they could not get drugs the confiscated, they came back, broke into premises, dumped the drugs in the office and left,” said the source. PCN was said to have cleared the said drugs and would return them to the owner anytime from now.