Kano process power shuts pharmaceutical agency over ₦900m value of managed drug, pregabalin

The Kano State Multi-Agency Taskforce on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking has shut down a pharmaceutical firm over the alleged unlawful distribution of Pregabalin, a managed drug extensively abused within the state.

The process power chairman, Muhuyi Magaji, disclosed this on Saturday whereas taking journalists across the facility situated in a residential space of Sabon Gari, Kano.

He mentioned operatives found 3,180,000 tablets of Pregabalin valued at greater than ₦900 million contained in the premises.

Magaji additionally revealed that the duty power had arrested 1,760 suspects and secured 890 convictions in its marketing campaign in opposition to drug abuse, unlawful trafficking and associated crimes.

However, he expressed concern that whereas the company was working to scale back drug consumption by way of arrests and prosecutions, some pharmaceutical corporations licensed by regulatory authorities had been allegedly serving to to maintain the unlawful provide chain working.

He accused some officers of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, in Kano of facilitating the unlawful distribution of Pregabalin and different managed medicines.

According to him, licences issued by the regulatory our bodies had allegedly made it simpler for the medication to succeed in the streets, regardless of their restricted availability in legit pharmacies.

The process power chairman described Pregabalin as probably the most generally abused substance in Kano, saying that eight out of each 10 suspected drug customers arrested by the company had been both carrying the drug or admitted to utilizing it.

He additionally questioned the approval of import licences for Pregabalin after NAFDAC categorised it as a managed drug on September 14, 2026.

Magaji notably drew consideration to an import licence allegedly issued to a pharmaceutical firm in Kano on October 23, 2026, saying the approval wanted to be investigated given the widespread abuse of the drug within the state.

He mentioned preliminary findings by the duty power steered that the corporate’s proprietor had established one other agency allegedly getting used as a canopy for the unlawful distribution of managed medication by way of secret networks.

He additional questioned how the premises obtained regulatory approval, contemplating the relevant land-use necessities.

Magaji additionally alleged that some PCN officers had connections with unlawful drug distribution networks and had been resisting efforts to deal with the issue due to their pursuits.

Expressing frustration over what he described because the safety of drug sellers, he mentioned:

“I cannot in good conscience continue to go after the victims, that is, users, while the perpetrators (dealers) are given a shield by those who have a statutory responsibility to protect them from accessing these drugs they tend to abuse,” he mentioned.