The popular Nollywood actress Ngozi Ezeonu has voiced her worries about the nation’s growing supply of fake goods.
The seasoned actress criticized manufacturers of counterfeit medications and other goods in an Instagram video, accusing them of causing Nigeria’s health issues and fatalities.
She cautioned them against becoming “our own enemies,” pointing out that the damage caused by counterfeit goods might eventually affect their own relatives or even themselves.
“There’s something I want to talk about this morning. It’s something that is really giving me a lot of concern. I don’t know if any of you have gone to any hospital recently. You will see our youths dying. A lot of them are sick. Some have kidney problems, liver problems. Most times, I don’t think it is their lifestyle. Most times, it is probably the medication,” she said.
”Somebody will be sick, the person goes to the hospital, the person is given a prescription, the person gets the drugs, takes the medication, and the sickness is not going. Instead, they are probably getting worse.
“Come on, guys! Why would anybody want to throw stones in the market? Who do you think it will fall on? It might fall on your mother. It might fall on your father, your children, or even you. You might be in that market at the wrong time, and that stone hits you.
“Let us not be our own enemies. I know we have to get money, be rich, but not at the detriment of innocent lives. You are big guys; when you’re sick, you travel overseas. Do you ever take a moment to think if those people are like us, making fake drugs, injections, fake everything? Even with all your money, you go there for treatment, and you’re not well. How would you feel?
”You’re so rich that you can fly your whole family abroad when they are sick. What about the people who are not as well-to-do as you are? Some people go to the general hospitals, regular hospitals, to treat themselves.
“What would you gain when people die because you have to make money? It’s paining me. We shouldn’t be our own enemies. We should value lives. Please, if you are one of the people who are making these fake drugs, please stop. People are dying; our children are dying. Let us not waste our lives.”
“And to the authorities, it’s not just politics. We are the ones you are governing. Do you people check the standards of what people eat these days? Nobody knows. Oga, madam it might be your own children. It might be you; it will hit. I just want to beg you to refrain from wasting lives,” she added.
Ultimately, we must acknowledge that we are harming one another—fake drugs are costing lives, and this is not solely the government’s doing. We appeal to everyone involved in producing or selling counterfeit medicines: please stop. People are dying, and no profit is worth the loss of human life.
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Rose Ajieh
