Two sachet water factories in Owerri were shut down by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, or NAFDAC, for operating in unsanitary conditions.

During the regular inspection that took place in the capital city of Imo on Friday, the agency issued additional warnings to another factory.

Elmabo Table Water and Sylchap Enterprise Table Water were the two factories that were impacted, and Giver Table Water received a warning due to some minor problems.

After the enforcement, Imo NAFDAC Coordinator Mrs Mercy Ndukwe told reporters that the factories had been sealed because of subpar manufacturing procedures.

“We’ve invited them all to visit the NAFDAC office with their licences for verification,” Ndukwe stated.

“The agency is unhappy with the conditions in which the factories we visited were operating.

“Four to five rooms are the bare minimum that NAFDAC requires small-scale operators to run a water production facility.

“These rooms were available when we registered them, but the majority of them are now used for other purposes, like living rooms and other businesses.”

The head of NAFDAC voiced worries that, in the absence of adequate care, cholera and other illnesses might spread from such unsanitary conditions.

Ndukwe recalled that the organisation had instructed the state’s water association to suspend all activities for two days to properly clean and sanitise factories to prevent a cholera outbreak approximately three weeks prior.

“We are very sad to see the unhygienic environment where they operate in, even with the directive,” she said.

“To sit up and conduct self-sanitization of their premises,” she advised other producers.

“They should make sure that the people they entrust with running their businesses strictly follow NAFDAC’s guidelines.

“Our goal is to make sure that Nigerians consume wholesale and hygienic food and water, not to shut down factories or force them out of business,” Ndukwe stated.

She stated that the organisation would be happy to arrange free workshops on best practices for the managers of the state’s table water factories.

The Imo House of Assembly Committee on Health and Environment, the state chapter of the Association of Table Water Producers (ATWAP), and NAFDAC worked together to carry out the enforcement.