The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has disclosed a major crackdown on counterfeit and expired medical products, seizing over N1 trillion worth of banned drugs and sealing 11,000 shops nationwide.
Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General, disclosed this information while briefing State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday.
Adeyeye stated that the operation, which was carried out in the last few weeks, uncovered a large quantity of expired and repackaged antiretroviral drugs and male condoms donated by USAID and UNFPA.
“What we are currently underestimating is a figure of N1 trillion. Yes, that’s N1 trillion.
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“They came into the country through borders, and like I often say, it takes a village to raise a child. It doesn’t take only NAFDAC and the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) to ensure that we have sanity in our drug distribution or we mitigate some standard falsified medicines,” Adeyeye added.
The NAFDAC DG emphasised the need for stricter sanctions, including life imprisonment or the death penalty, for those involved in counterfeiting drugs.
She also disclosed plans to relocate open drug markets to coordinated wholesale centers within the next year.
Adeyeye revealed that the agency had confiscated 87 truckloads of banned drugs, the largest haul in NAFDAC’s history. The operation was carried out in major open drug markets in Onitsha, Aba, and Lagos.
The exercise is part of NAFDAC’s National Action Plan (NAP 2.0) 2023-2027, aimed at eliminating counterfeit medicines, improving regulatory compliance, and safeguarding public health.
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