Counterfeit products worth over ₦120 billion have been destroyed by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) over the past year, as part of intensified raids, prosecutions, and large-scale destruction exercises carried out across the country.
According to enforcement data released by the agency’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, the crackdown led to the shutdown of over 1,300 shops and the seizure of counterfeit products with a street market value of over ₦120 billion nationwide within the year under review.
The operations spanned several states. In December 2023, about 150 shops were shut in an exercise that led to the destruction of counterfeit beverages, spirits, and re-validated foods worth ₦5 billion. In Kano, over 1,300 drug markets operating without valid court orders were relocated to the Coordinated Wholesale Centre in February 2024. December 2024 raids in Ibadan and Aba destroyed expired, unregistered, and counterfeit products worth a combined ₦18 billion.
In February 2026, a raid in Ibadan uncovered fake, expired, and banned medicines worth over ₦15 billion, including Analgin, codeine syrup, Tramadol, and expired insulin, while a separate operation in Lagos seized over 10 million doses of counterfeit malaria medicines and cosmetics valued at approximately ₦63 billion. A joint raid across Idumota, Onitsha, and Aba between February and March 2026 recovered more than 137 truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products worth over ₦1.5 trillion.
More recent operations include a ₦1.8 billion seizure of counterfeit medicines, banned sachet alcohol, and narcotics in Abuja in March 2026, a ₦5 billion counterfeit rice haul in Nasarawa in June 2026, and the arrest of five persons in Abuja the same month for selling counterfeit cosmetics worth ₦35 million.
On prosecutions, NAFDAC said it has secured 64 convictions for counterfeiting nationwide, with sentences ranging from one to seven years’ imprisonment without an option of fine, including seven years for fake antibiotics and five years each for falsified antimalarials and codeine-containing cough syrups. “The convictions come as NAFDAC moves to tighten its regulatory grip through new treaceability regulations aiimed at curbing counterfeit drugs.
NAFDAC’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency remains committed to sustained surveillance, intelligence gathering, and public collaboration to keep counterfeit products out of the market.
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