The House of Representatives has called on the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria to liaise with social media giants and online advertising companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter to “effectively monitor, control and enforce advertising standards against online drug advertisers and vendors.”
The House also called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to “arrest and prosecute unlawful online advertisers of drugs,” while enlightening the public against the dangers of purchasing unregistered and non-prescribed drugs online.
It urged the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria to “sanction and prosecute individuals engaging in the sales and promotion of medicines online without the requisite authorisation in line with the law establishing the council.”
The lawmakers urged the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to “take necessary action towards protecting consumers of online drugs.”
These resolutions were based in the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by Onofiok Luke at the plenary on Tuesday, titled ‘Need to regulate online advertising and sales of drugs.’
Luke said, “The House is concerned that online vendors have capitalised on free access to the Internet and social media platforms to advertise and sell unregistered and sometimes fake drugs to unsuspecting members of the public, thereby endangering their health and wellbeing.”
– Punch