The House of Representatives has asked the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria to liaise with online advertising companies and other regulatory agencies to regulate the advertisement and sale of drugs online.
The green chamber asked NAFDAC, as well as the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria to arrest and prosecute unlawful online advertisers of drugs and enlighten the public against the dangers of purchasing unregistered and non-prescribed drugs online.
This followed the adoption of a motion, titled “Need to Regulate Online Advertising and Sales of Drugs”, presented by Honorable Onofiok Akpan Luke (PDP, Akwa Ibom), who said vendors had capitalized on free access to the internet and social media platforms to advertise and sell unregistered and fake drugs to unsuspecting citizens, thereby endangering their health and wellbeing.
He said the drugs being advertised and sold online ranged from dietary supplements, cholesterol-lowering medicine, analgesics, including tramadol and aspirin to viagra and other sex enhancement drugs.