By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has disclosed that it destroyed regulated products worth more than N1.5 trillion in a single coordinated operation across Lagos and the South-East between February and March 2025, as part of a wider nationwide crackdown that has seen the agency destroy or seize over N1.54 trillion worth of fake and substandard goods since 2023.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this on Monday, September 7, 2026, in Lagos, describing counterfeiters as “merchants of death” and vowing zero tolerance for the production and sale of fake products.
Her remarks followed recent public outcry over rampant counterfeiting of consumer goods, foods, drugs and cosmetics suspected to be fake, substandard and dangerous.
Adeyeye explained that simultaneous raids at Idumota and Onitsha markets, as well as the Ariaria International Market in Aba, led to the seizure and destruction of counterfeit and substandard products loaded onto more than 137 40-foot trucks.
“Between February and March 2025, across Idumota, Onitsha and Ariaria Market, Aba, NAFDAC coordinated and simultaneously executed major raids which led to seizure and destruction of over 137 40-foot truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products valued at more than N1.5 trillion, which were evacuated and destroyed,” she said.
Beyond the coordinated raids, the agency listed separate destruction exercises targeting fake and expired medicines.
In February 2026, NAFDAC destroyed over N15 billion worth of fake, expired, counterfeit and banned medicines in Ibadan, Oyo State, including Analgin, Co-codamol, codeine syrups, Tramadol, Oxytocin and expired vaccines, an operation that also led to the arrest of a suspect linked to a smuggled container.
The agency further disclosed that it destroyed expired and unregistered drugs worth N11 billion in Ibadan in December 2024, while in March 2026, it destroyed N1.8 billion worth of counterfeit medicines, banned sachet alcohol below 200ml, narcotics, antibiotics, antimalarials, counterfeit milk, skin-lightening creams, fake insecticides and medical devices in Kuje, Abuja, bringing the combined value of drug and pharmaceutical-related destructions to N27.8 billion.
Separately, NAFDAC said it destroyed counterfeit beverages, spirits and revalidated foods worth N5 billion in Aba, Abia State, in December 2023, after shutting down 150 shops.
A repeat raid at the same location in December 2024 led to the closure of 250 shops and the discovery of N7 billion worth of similar products, bringing the combined value of the Aba beverage and food destructions to N12 billion.
Adeyeye disclosed that the street market value of products destroyed nationwide in 2024 alone exceeded N120 billion.
On enforcement, the NAFDAC boss, alongside the agency’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Iluyomade Martins, said 64 convictions for counterfeiting had been secured across the country, with sentences ranging from one to seven years’ imprisonment without the option of a fine.
She listed specific convictions secured between June 2025 and June 2026, including five years for faking Global Fund Artemether, five years for a cough and cold syrup containing codeine, 12 months for fake ointments and condoms, and seven years for fake antibiotics.
“NAFDAC’s record for 2023 to present shows it has responded with billions in seizures, hundreds of arrests, dozens of convictions, and trillion-naira destructions,” she said.
Adeyeye further disclosed that the agency’s Post-Market Surveillance Directorate visited 6,233 facilities and mopped up 7,210 brands and products nationwide between May and July 2026, cutting across food and water, drugs and herbals, medical devices, vaccines and biologics, cosmetics, healthcare products and chemicals. Food and Water recorded the highest number of products mopped up, with 3,633 products from 1,808 facilities, while Drugs and Herbals recorded the highest number of facilities visited, with 2,084 facilities yielding 2,459 products.
The Director-General also disclosed that the agency had uncovered the counterfeiting of CWAY dispenser bottles by three companies that refilled empty 19-litre bottles bearing the identity of a registered water company with water from unapproved sources, before supplying them to hotels and supermarkets without authorisation, adding that the operators involved had been heavily sanctioned.
While acknowledging the scale of the crackdown, Adeyeye clarified that the agency’s mandate did not extend to creating “a society entirely free of criminals and criminal-minded individuals,” noting that fresh farm produce such as apples, grapes and oranges fell outside NAFDAC’s exclusive regulatory control and instead came under the responsibility of the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service.
She added that NAFDAC lacked direct and absolute regulatory oversight over unbranded palm oil, fufu and other staple foods packaged traditionally and sold in open markets, and called on sub-national authorities to collaborate with the agency in ensuring the safety of such products.
“Fakers are not ghosts; they exist within our communities, neighbourhoods, and business premises,” she said, describing the fight against counterfeiting as a collective responsibility involving NAFDAC, sister agencies and the public.
Adeyeye urged Nigerians to report suspected non-compliant products through the agency’s Call Centre rather than relying solely on social media, listing the enquiry line as 0700-1-NAFDAC (0700-1-623322) and the complaint line as 0800-1-NAFDAC (0800-1-623322).
She concluded by reiterating the agency’s earlier call for stricter penalties under the NAFDAC Act and the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs Act, including the death penalty or life imprisonment for those who produce and sell fake regulated products.
