The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has destroyed substandard, falsified, expired, and unwholesome regulated products valued at over N1.85 billion in Abuja. The exercise involved items including banned sachet alcohol in volumes less than 200ml, medicines such as narcotics, antibiotics, antihypertensives, antimalarials, herbal snuff, and herbal remedies, as well as drugs confiscated from hawkers.
Items Destroyed
Other destroyed products included unwholesome food items like counterfeited sachet milk, cosmetics such as creams, lotions, soaps, pomade, and skin lightening creams seized from shops, chemicals like fake insecticides, medical devices, and expired products voluntarily handed over by compliant companies, NGOs, and the Association of Community Pharmacy of Nigeria (ACPN).
NAFDAC Director-General's Remarks
Speaking during the exercise, NAFDAC Director-General Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye stated that the products threaten both the national economy and public health. She noted that the proliferation of counterfeit and substandard products is a national security issue, highlighting that the destruction exercise underscores the agency's efforts to remove such items from the supply chain.
Prof. Adeyeye emphasized that NAFDAC is continuously optimizing enforcement strategies to track and seize offending products and prosecute offenders. The agency is working with lawmakers to strengthen the NAFDAC Act to impose harsher penalties and asset forfeitures on counterfeiters.
She said, "As an agency, we regularly carry out this kind of exercise to permanently remove falsified medical products, substandard foods, and illicit cosmetics from the open market to prevent these dangerous products from being recycled or sold to unsuspecting Nigerians." The estimated street value of the destroyed products is N1,855,650,000.
Commitment to Public Health
The destruction exercise demonstrates NAFDAC's commitment to safeguarding public health through safe and transparent disposal of fake products. It serves as a clear message to counterfeiters that their actions will face severe sanctions. Prof. Adeyeye noted that continuous surveillance, intensified inspections, enforcement raids, and collaboration with local and international partners will ensure counterfeiters find no safe haven in Nigerian markets.
She advised consumers to be vigilant when purchasing regulated products and to report suspicious activities to the nearest NAFDAC office.
