In the midst of the Ebola outbreak, several individuals have claimed to have the panacea for the disease. Kolanut, salt, Ewedu, and other food items have been rumoured to cure Ebola.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has vowed to crack down on people who make such erroneous claims, beginning with the professor who claimed Ewedu can cure Ebola.
Director General of NAFDAC, Paul Orhii made the announcement yesterday, Vanguard reports.
Orhii reportedly stated that NAFDAC would arrest and prosecute a Nigerian Professor of Ophthalmology at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH) who made the false claims about Ewedu.
“One consequence of these unsupported and possibly fraudulent claims is that people may be misled into a false sense of invincibility on account of eating Ewedu or bitter kola and drop their guards. This is a national embarrassment and the Agency will not take such uncorroborated claims by supposedly learned people lightly… NAFDAC will immediately arrest and prosecute any Nigerian making such unverified claims as that could mislead the public,” he said.
In its efforts to crack down on individuals exploiting the Ebola situation, NAFDAC has also arrested three Nigerian business men who imported fake Ebola kits and expired hand sanitizers into the country.
