The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has unveiled a staggering record of enforcement operations against manufacturers and distributors of fake, counterfeit and substandard products, warning that its intensified crackdown will continue nationwide.
The agency said its surveillance and enforcement operations had uncovered major counterfeiting networks, resulting in arrests, prosecutions, convictions, seizures, destruction of illicit products and closure of businesses.
NAFDAC’s latest disclosure followed reports of fake and substandard products in the Nigerian market, including counterfeit toothpaste and illegally refilled bottled water.
Among the recent cases, the agency said it investigated reports of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste and subsequently issued a public alert.
It also uncovered three companies allegedly involved in illegally refilling and reselling 19-litre CWAY dispenser bottles using water from unapproved sources. The operators, according to NAFDAC, have been sanctioned.
The agency further disclosed that in July 2026, one suspect was arrested for allegedly counterfeiting Oral-B toothpaste and remains in NAFDAC custody.
According to NAFDAC, the scale of its enforcement operations demonstrates that the agency has been actively pursuing counterfeiters despite the continued appearance of illicit products in the market.
“NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate has intensified coordinated raids, arrests, prosecutions, and large-scale destruction exercises across the country,” the agency said.
Giving details of its enforcement record, NAFDAC said it shut down 150 shops in Aba in December 2023 and destroyed counterfeit beverages, spirits and re-validated foods estimated at ₦5 billion.
In February 2024, more than 1,300 open drug marketers in Kano were relocated to the Coordinated Wholesale Centre at Kanawa following a valid court order.
The agency said expired and unregistered drugs worth ₦11 billion were destroyed in Ibadan in December 2024, while another ₦7 billion worth of counterfeit products was destroyed in Aba after 250 shops were shut.
Across 2024 alone, NAFDAC said products with a street market value exceeding ₦120 billion were seized and destroyed nationwide.
The crackdown continued into 2025, with coordinated raids conducted between February and March in Idumota, Onitsha and Aba leading to the seizure and destruction of more than 137 forty-foot truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products valued at over ₦1.5 trillion.
In February 2026, NAFDAC destroyed fake, expired, counterfeit and banned medicines worth more than ₦15 billion in Ibadan. The destroyed products included Analgin, codeine syrups, Tramadol and expired vaccines.
Also in February, more than 10 million doses of counterfeit malaria medicines and cosmetics valued at approximately ₦3 billion were seized in Lagos, with four suspects arrested.
In Abuja, NAFDAC destroyed counterfeit medicines, banned sachet alcohol, narcotics and other non-compliant products worth ₦1.8 billion in March 2026.
The agency also uncovered a counterfeit rice factory in Nasarawa in June, confiscating more than 1,600 bags of suspected fake rice valued at ₦5 billion.
That same month, five suspects were arrested in Abuja for allegedly selling counterfeit cosmetics valued at ₦35 million.
NAFDAC said its enforcement drive had also resulted in successful prosecutions, with 64 convictions secured against counterfeiters across the country.
The convictions, it said, attracted prison sentences ranging from one to seven years without the option of a fine.
“Notable sentences include seven years for fake antibiotics, five years for falsified antimalarials, and five years for codeine-containing cough syrups,” the agency said.
NAFDAC, however, rejected any suggestion that the continued discovery of fake products means regulatory surveillance is ineffective.
“The continued presence of counterfeit products in the market does not indicate the absence of regulatory surveillance,” the agency said, stressing that the “scale and complexity” of counterfeiting required continuous surveillance, intelligence gathering, laboratory verification, enforcement and public engagement.
The agency maintained that eliminating fake and substandard products from the Nigerian market cannot be achieved by regulation alone.
“Achieving a market free of fake and substandard products is a collective responsibility,” NAFDAC said, adding that the task required the agency, sister agencies and members of the public to work together.
The agency urged Nigerians to report suspected fake or non-compliant products through its official channels before taking complaints to social media.
NAFDAC Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the official reporting channels would enable the agency to conduct discreet, prompt and thorough investigations.
