Group seeks reopening of drug markets shut down by NAFDAC

A human rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has condemned the total shutdown and militarization of some open drug markets in the country by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) over allegations of fake drugs.

It urged the agency to immediately reopen the markets and remove its hired soldiers of the Nigerian Army from the premises.

In recent weeks, NAFDAC raided several drug markets and shut down the Onitsha Drug Market, Idumota Drug Market in Lagos, and Ariaria Drug Market in Aba, Abia State, over allegations of dealing in fake drugs.

Reacting to the development on Tuesday, Intersociety urged the agency to refrain from further exposing the Nigerian military, its officers, personnel, and high command to unprofessionalism and corrupt practices. It also demanded a refund of about N20 billion incurred by traders in the affected markets since Sunday, February 9, 2025, particularly those in the Onitsha Drug Market.

In a statement made available to The Guardian in Enugu, signed by its Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, Intersociety decried the invasion of the crowded Onitsha market by “NAFDAC-hired soldiers from the 302 Artillery Regiment.”

He stated that the soldiers extended their activities to five other adjoining markets, namely Oduwani (part of the Carpentry Tools—Power Tools and Allied—Market), the Surgical Line Market, the Plumbing Materials Market, the Ogbogwu Fashion Line Market, the Bridgehead Provision Market, and part of the Timber Dealers Market.

“The above-named markets were shut down and taken over by soldiers of the Nigerian Army and their NAFDAC hirers, during which the NAFDAC field officials and leaders of the hired soldiers forced market leaders to surrender the keys to their gates and lines, taking possession of them to date.

“Since then, not only have traders in the affected Onitsha Drug Market incurred billions of naira in losses, amounting to no less than N20 billion, but they have also been starved, threatened, and forced out of their legitimate businesses. Worst of all, traders and leaders of the five unaffected markets have been permanently shut out and denied access to their shops and legitimate livelihoods,” he said.

Umeagbalasi stated that the group had, since the incident, sent “undercovers” to the affected markets, during which “several acts of corruption involving some deployed soldiers and field officials of the drug agency were clandestinely reported through ‘Widows’ Connection’—tactics reportedly deployed by suspected illicit drug kingpins and other desperate actors to corruptly gain access to some market stalls in violation of the law, smuggling contraband and company drugs, with tens of millions of naira reportedly exchanging hands.”

He stated that while the organization was not against NAFDAC’s sanitization exercise aimed at ridding the country of fake and adulterated drugs and eliminating their dealers and manufacturers, it “strongly condemns the militarist approach adopted, the corruptive attitude of the authorities, and the manner in which the Onitsha Drug Market and five adjoining others—having nothing whatsoever to do with fake and adulterated drugs—were invaded, shut down, and locked since Feb 9, 2025.”

He lamented that instead of using credible intelligence through inter-agency intelligence gathering and sharing—which should have identified and profiled illicit drug kingpins for easy tracking and apprehension using digital and manual processes, including their identities, locations, places of abode, and criminal syndicates such as corrupt soldiers and police squads providing cover during importation, manufacturing, or couriering of illicit drugs—NAFDAC and its hired officers and personnel of the Nigerian Army have resorted to punishing and persecuting innocent traders of the Onitsha Drug Market while shielding illicit drug kingpins.

“We hereby call on the authorities of NAFDAC, their hired officers, personnel, and the high command of the Nigerian Army to, as a matter of uttermost urgency, reopen the militarily, corruptly, and unlawfully shut down Onitsha Drug Market and those in Idumota, Lagos State, and Ariaria, Aba, Abia State.

NAFDAC must refrain from encouraging corruption and unprofessionalism in the Nigerian military and stop using them to militarize the agency’s civil and law enforcement operations. Traders of the Onitsha Drug Market and those in Lagos and Abia must steer clear of fake and adulterated drugs or trading in illicit hard drugs such as codeine, cocaine, contraband tramadol, and allied substances,” he stated.