AWKA – Some residents of Awka, Anambra, have called on regulatory agencies in the state to ensure quality in the production of local gin (Ogogoro).
They made the call while fielding questions on the consumption of the local brew from newsmen.
They urged the regulators to ensure the safety of the local gins being consumed by a large number of Nigerians.
The residents were unanimous in hailing the decision of the agencies in monitoring the activities of the local gin sellers.
One of the residents, Mr. Emeka Anikwe, a trader, said that he was elated when he heard the news but that “its implementation is his cause of concern.
“It is a welcome development for many of our promising individuals die because of regular consumption of the local gin which in some cases is caused by economic hardship.
“I just don’t know how these agencies can monitor and sanction defaulters that will not repent from killing Nigerians slowly,” he said.
Mr. Anthony Nweke, a student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, called on the regulatory agencies to employ more hands to raid the hide outs of clandestine producers.
“It is not enough to make a statement without concrete action towards implementing it.
“My candid advice is for the agencies involve to employ more youths to be patrolling the streets of Nigeria in search of those that sell that harmful substance.”
A local gin seller, Ms Grace Okonkwo, said that she buys the local gin she sells from the right source and her customers know that her product has no adulteration.
“In this our business, some of us buy original local gin and then mix it with adulterated gin so that they can make more gain.
“I buy from the right source which is going to Niger Delta to buy and my customers knows that I don’t mix my gin; that’s why they keep coming back,” she said.
It would be recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Agency for Food Drug and Administration Control (NAFDAC) and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) had jointly decided to regulate the production of local gin in Nigeria.