Traders Want Stiffer Punishment For Fake Product Dealers

Traders in Enugu have called on the Federal Government to introduce stiffer punishments for importers and local manufacturers of fake products. 

The traders made the call recently  in Enugu at an enlightenment workshop on the dangers of fake and adulterated products organised by NAFDAC. 

One of the traders, Mr Amadi Chinedu, who deals on beverages at the Ogbete Main Market, said that fake products had almost ruined his business. 

Chinedu said that customers the traders cultivated over a period of time had abandoned them for super markets because the customers believe all products in the market were fake. 

“If there is a stiffer punishment for those who corrupt our markets with fake products, it will serve as a deterrent to others and will restore our hopes to remain in business. 

“ Our colleagues indulge in such act to make more profit but I know that its benefits will not last,’’ he said.

Chinedu urged government to introduce loan facilities for traders to help cushion the effects of the harsh economic climate. 

He said the workshop had enlightened him on benefits of not patronising fake products and how to detect them. 

Another participant at the workshop, Anthony Onovo, expressed worries over the level of corruption in the country.

Onovo noted  that the trend might make it difficult to check the excesses of fake product dealers and manufacturers. 

“We had given secret information about some of our colleagues who pollute our markets with fake products only for them to bribe their ways back to the market to persecute informants,’’ he said.  

Onovo charged NAFDAC to take the sensitisation programme to every part of the country.

He called on the government to also beef-up security at the country’s borders to check flooding of the markets with fake products.

The Head, NAFDAC, Enugu Office, Udo Ekpo Ekpo, said the exercise was to sensitise the traders and manufacturers on NAFDAC’s prevailing codes and standards for products. 

Ekpo expressed regret that many lives had been lost and many businesses worth billions of naira had collapsed because of fake products.

He said the agency would organise another round of training for other categories of traders next month.

Ekpo said NAFDAC would impose stiffer punishment on fake product dealers and manufacturers after the sensitisation exercise. 

Our correspondent  reports that those in attendance include traders, master bakers, table water producers, supermarkets, hotel, fast food, restaurant operators, among others.