Former Market Leader expresses joy over reopening of Onitsha Drug Market, cautions against sale of counterfeit
By: Chidi Yadiba, Onitsha.
Former President-General of Anambra State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association (AMATAS), who also held the position of South East Amalgamated Traders Association (SEAMATA), Hon. Okwudili Ezenwankwo has commended NAFDAC and the Federal Government over reopening of Onitsha Drug market, popularly known as “Ogbo Ogwu”.
Ezenwankwo, who later represented Orumba North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, commended the efforts of Gov. Chukwuma Soludo, President Bola Tinubu, and NAFDAC hierarchy, and other silent achievers who worked tirelessly towards the reopening of the drug market and other adjoining smaller markets in the vicinity.
Ezenwankwo, who had worked round the clock to see that innocent traders were not punished because of the crimes of greedy traders in the popular Onitsha Drug Market, expressed joy at the development as a former market leader.
Ezenwankwo, who is popularly referred to as “Ewepudike,” however, urged NAFDAC to seek other viable ways of tracking peddlers of counterfeit drugs as innocent Nigerians already suffered for the crimes committed by a few lawless traders.
The former market leader who introduced innovations and democratized major markets in Anambra State during his nine-year reign cautioned dealers of counterfeit drugs to as a matter of urgency respect the goodwill of Gov Soludo and others who worked assiduously towards the reopening of the market and desist from peddling illicit and counterfeit drugs in the market as it was destroying the image of the market, Nigeria and South East Region of the country.
The former Acting president-general of Nigeria Markets Association, who later joined politics, indirectly worked for the reopening of the drug market as a former market leader whose wealth of experience in market politics and management can not be overemphasized.
As a silent achiever while in the National Assembly and market leadership, his wealth of experience is always needed in matters of this nature.
NAFDAC had revealed that about fifty truckloads of counterfeit drugs had been confiscated from the market and warned traders to always give useful information that would lead to the arrest of the culprit.
