On Wednesday in Abuja, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control closed two shops for allegedly selling unapproved products to Nigerians.
The shops are in the Zuba Central motor park and the Utako main market.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, some of the unregistered aphrodisiac products are: “Hajiya Ayesha Snuff, AK47, Bulletproof, and Hajiya Aysha Maisanda.”
According to Mr Tamanuwa Baba, Deputy Director, Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, NAFDAC, the operation was prompted by intelligence reports about the shops.
“The products are meant to boost sexual performance and some were said to have been manufactured in Ghana.
“NAFDAC laboratory analysis indicates that these products contain a chemical substance called Pyridine which is a potentially harmful to the human body.
“We found a lot of unregistered products in the two shops. We will begin immediate investigations,” he said.
Baba said that the agency has apprehended the sales representative in the Zuba shop pending when the owner of the shop will return from his journey.
“We will get in touch with the owner of the shop on where he is sourcing these products from, but from the label on the products, some of them were allegedly manufactured in Ghana.
“What the sellers are saying is that these products usually make them high and some said that the product is used as an aphrodisiac.
“After the investigation, these products are going to be destroyed because they have not been registered by us.
He said similar set of products were also discovered in a shop at Utako known as Kabo Investment Limited.
He said that it was scary that some of the products have flooded the Nigerian market and that they are fast spreading because the agency conducted a similar operation in Sokoto where some of the products were removed from a shop.
“I can tell you that Pyridine which is the chemical that is contained in some of these products can cause cancer, skin irritation and even lead to death