• As NAFDAC blames Chinese for alleged counterfeit products

The Federal Government is considering legislation to prohibit the hawking of medicines on the streets, as regulators intensify efforts to curb the sale of fake, substandard and unsafe products.

Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this while responding to questions on the agency’s enforcement activities.

She said the mobility of medicine hawkers made it difficult for regulators to monitor and control the sale of medicines outside approved channels.

Adeyeye said NAFDAC and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) were responsible for regulating places where medicines were sold, but noted that enforcement remained challenging because some vendors moved from place to place.

She added that even with a ban, sustained enforcement would be required to prevent hawkers from returning to the streets.

The proposed legislation comes amid NAFDAC’s intensified crackdown on counterfeit, substandard and unwholesome products through raids, seizures, arrests, prosecutions and destruction exercises.

Adeyeye said the agency had evacuated and destroyed truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products valued at more than N1.5 trillion, while its Investigation and Enforcement Directorate had conducted operations in markets and other locations nationwide.

She said a December 2025 raid in Lagos led to the seizure and destruction of illegally manufactured cosmetics and packaging materials. In February 2026, NAFDAC raided the Lagos Trade Fair market, where more than 10 million doses of counterfeit malaria medicines and cosmetics valued at about N3 billion were seized. Four people were arrested after the products were discovered in a three-storey building disguised as a spare-parts warehouse.

Four more persons were arrested in June 2026 in Abuja’s Garki and Wuse areas over the sale of counterfeit cosmetics valued at N35 million. Adeyeye said a March 2026 raid on Area 1 and Deidei motor parks in Abuja resulted in the arrest of 19 drug hawkers and shop owners. The seized products included tramadol, co-codamol, aphrodisiacs and analgesics.

She added that NAFDAC also uncovered a factory in Nasarawa in June where counterfeit rice was allegedly being packaged, leading to the seizure of more than 1,600 bags valued at N5 million.

The NAFDAC boss said the agency had received thousands of complaints through its official channels and urged consumers to report suspected fake, substandard and unsafe products.

She also stressed the importance of public education, saying the agency had continued to use television and radio programmes to educate consumers on product safety and how to identify and report violations.

Adeyeye called for sustained collaboration among government agencies, the media and the public, stressing that combating counterfeit and unsafe products could not be left to NAFDAC alone.

Meanwhile, Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Martins Iluyomade, raised concern over what he described as an emerging trend in the counterfeit trade involving some Chinese nationals operating within Nigeria.

He said counterfeiters previously travelled to China to manufacture fake products but that NAFDAC was increasingly encountering alleged operations being facilitated from within Nigeria.

“Before, to fake a product, you need to go to China and do it. Now, you don’t need to go. They are here.

They are with us,” he said.

Iluyomade said some Chinese nationals allegedly involved in the trade were using logistics companies to move counterfeit products, adding that NAFDAC was investigating and targeting the companies and channels through which the goods entered and circulated in the country.

He, however, said NAFDAC could not tackle the problem alone, noting that sister agencies at the nation’s borders had critical roles to play in preventing counterfeit products from entering Nigeria.

According to him, stopping fake products at the borders was as important as removing them from the market, as continued infiltration could undermine enforcement efforts.