The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been directed by the federal ministry of health to ban with immediate effect further issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough syrup preparations.
This was contained in a statement on Tuesday, May 1 by the minister of health, Professor Isaac Adewole.
The minister stated that cough syrups containing codeine should be replaced with dextromethorphan, which is less addictive. He said that the directive became necessary due to the gross abuse of codeine in the country.
Isaac, who also banned sales of codeine-containing cough syrup without prescription across the country, directed the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria and NAFDAC to supervise the recall for labelling and audit trailing of all codeine-containing cough syrups in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives at plenary on Thursday, December 21, 2017 asked the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to immediately place a ban on the dispensing and sales of codeine across the counter nationwide.
It was reported that the reps took the decision following the high rates of cases of drug abuse in some parts of the country.
The House further told the agency to ensure that the drug was sold on prescription.
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