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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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NDLEA arrests 45, NAFDAC warns on excess salt intake
THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ekiti State command has arrested 45 suspects for drug related offences.
It also seized over 800 kilogrammes of Cannabis between January and August this year.
Mr. Victor Ifabiyi, the state commander, made the disclosure yesterday while conducting journalists round a 10 hectare plantation of Indian hemp owned by three brothers in Igbara-Odo, Ekiti South West Local Council of Ekiti State.
The public has also been warned of the dangers inherent in excess salt intake. Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Dora Akunyili warning yesterday in Abuja of the danger of excess salt intake, noted that it was a major contributory factor to increasing incidence of high blood pressure.
Ifabiyi had told journalists yesterday that recent discoveries by the agency in Ekiti State have dispelled the notion that the state was drug-free.
He said that 32 cases of drug related offences were currently in court, stressing that the agency was working on information about the existence of hemp farms in some parts of the state.
This, he said, led to the arrest of Monday Ebinium (34), Thompson Ebinium (26), and Steven Ebinium 34 whose hemp plantation was located in a thick forest behind the Government Reservation in Igbara-Odo.
The Ekiti State NDLEA Commander then urged those dealing in illegal drugs to desist from the practice as the long arms of the law were sure to catch up with them.
Three other suspects alleged to be involved in the farm with the three brothers, Ifabiyi said were still at large.
He also appealed to the state government for assistance in the destruction of the discovered hemp plantation because of it's negative implications on host communities.
Dr. Akunyili, while delivering a keynote address during a one-day Media Sensitisation Workshop on Salt Iodization held in Abuja yesterday, added that consumption of non-iodized salt was akin to committing suicide and therefore called for moderation in the intake of salt.
Lamenting the rising incidence of iodine deficiency disorders in the nation, she said "Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) had been a great threat to human and animal life in Nigeria until the mid nineties when a frame work for its virtual elimination was established".
According to her, Iodine Deficiency Disorders include goitre, cretinism (reduced growth), dry skin, constipation, still births and miscarriages.
"In addition, for children and even for unborn babies, iodine deficiency causes growth retardation and poor mental development, leading to low intelligence.
"The most frightening aspect of iodine deficiency in babies and children is the inability of the brain to be fully developed for maximum IQ", she opined.
She identified Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Benue and Taraba states as the most endemic states in respect of iodine deficiency disorder and the circle of production, sale and consumption of non-iodized locally produced salt. She added that her agency, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health, UNICEF and Standard Organization of Nigeria, has an ongoing programme tagged "Universal Salt Iodization Programme", aimed at sensitising the public on the danger of using non-iodized salt and educating manufacturers on the need to produce and market only iodized salts.
She said that as a matter of urgency and health implications of the problem, NAFDAC has succeeded in convincing the Federal Government to codify the use of iodized salts to arrest the dangerous trend.
She, however, added that all efforts being made so far to sensitise the public on iodized salt had not been in vain since an impact evaluation of some previously IDD endemic sentinel sites indicated
drastic reductions in total Goitre rate, and more significantly, increased urinary iodine excretion rates.
Pledging the support of NAFDAC in safeguarding the health of the nation, Akunyili advised the public to not only look out for NAFDAC numbers on bags of salt but also to go for smaller packets of salt with logos that shows that the salt is iodized.
"NAFDAC has also directed that salt manufactures must change to smaller packaging. What this means is that the public should reject buying salt in big bags. This is because iodine is better retained in small packets than in big bags and mudus. During the measuring, repackaging and normal exposure under the sun, a good quantity of the iodine is lost. "The logo is a map of Nigeria in green circled by black and three white human figures inserted in white", the NAFDAC boss added.
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