The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down 18 warehouses in Bida, Niger State, after uncovering massive stockpiles of expired food and beverage items during a targeted enforcement operation.
According to a statement issued by the agency’s Resident Media Consultant, Mr Olusayo Akintola, the affected warehouses were situated around Ndazabo White House along Minna Road, behind the Bida Modern Market.
He explained that the action followed actionable intelligence, which prompted NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement team to carry out a raid on the facilities.
Akintola disclosed that the operation led to the seizure of expired non-alcoholic drinks, dairy products, candies, bottled water and pasta, with an estimated market value of N100 million.
Among the confiscated items were about 80,000 sachets of expired beverages, 5,000 packs of dairy milk, 16,000 sachets of bottled water, 28 cartons of pasta, alongside other assorted food products that were no longer fit for consumption.
He added that several of the items had already been repackaged and prepared for circulation, while managers of the sealed warehouses were taken into custody for questioning.
Preliminary investigations reportedly traced the ownership of the warehouses to a company identified as BY Ventures, prompting NAFDAC officials to extend the operation to the firm’s supermarkets in Minna.
During the follow-up exercise, additional expired goods and suspected counterfeit Goya cooking oil were allegedly discovered, leading to the sealing of the affected retail outlets.
Akintola stated that the company’s Managing Director, Alhaji Yusuf Nadabo, was invited for interrogation, during which he reportedly acknowledged responsibility for the seized products.
He emphasised that investigations are still ongoing and assured that decisive regulatory measures would be applied once the process is concluded to discourage similar violations in the future.