The Federal Government has explained the reason behind the recent ban on the production, importation, sale and consumption of Codeine in Nigeria, after a report by BBC highlighting the danger of the substance went viral. The Ministry of Health in a statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesman, Olajide Oshundun
said the announcement on May 1 only coincided with the publication of the BBC documentary which started running on April 30. He explained that the government had since constituted a committee to review the situation stressing that the ban merely coincided with the viral BBC report.
“The body of the statement released by the ministry yesterday indicated that a working committee had been constituted by the government and they submitted an interim report.
“The memorandum was submitted on April 30 and it was due to that the minister took the step to ban codeine and that is why the statement was issued. It was only a coincidence that the government took action almost immediately after BBC’s broadcast.
“The government did not take action due to the report. The action was done as a result of the memorandum,” he added.
