*The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control restates commitment to cracking down on the sale of fake medicines to consumers in Lagos, and other parts of Nigeria

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

In furtherance of its core mandate to safeguard the health of Nigerian consumers, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Tuesday, February 11, 2025, sealed off several drug shops, warehouses, and packing stores at the popular Idumota Market, on Lagos Island, Lagos State, over the sale of alleged fake and unregistered medicines.

NAFDAC said the latest enforcement operation had targeted major distributors suspected of supplying counterfeit drugs to pharmacies and hospitals across the cosmopolitan state in Nigeria.

Speaking on the development, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of NAFDAC, reportedly said the raid was part of efforts to rid the market of substandard medicines and protect consumers’ wellbeing.

Adeyeye stated: “The essence of this operation is to ensure that when we take medicines, they actually work.

“When a child is given medicine, that child doesn鈥檛 die because there is nothing inside that medicine.”

He averred: “The essence of this is to control unwholesome products or those not approved.

“We have over 5,000 shops opened, which is not supposed to be so.”

Shaba Mohammed, Director of Investigation and Enforcement at NAFDAC, also disclosed the enforcement operations were not limited to Lagos State.

Mohammed noted: 鈥淭oday鈥檚 operation is about substandard medical products in the Nigerian market.

鈥淥n Sunday night, we sealed the three major open drug markets in the country.

“We had all the security agencies on the ground, including the Military, Police, DSS (Department of State Service), and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, alongside NAFDAC officials.鈥�

The Director of Investigation and Enforcement as well explained that previous investigations led to the seizure of counterfeit drugs in the affected markets, but more needed to be done to rid the country of counterfeit drugs.

Mohammed stated: 鈥淭hese markets are responsible for distributing over 80% of the country鈥檚 drug needs.

“If we don鈥檛 act now, Nigerians will continue to suffer from the circulation of fake and unregistered medicines.”

Explaining what the team saw during the operation in Lagos, Mrs. Florence Ubah, Deputy Director of Investigation and Enforcement at NAFDAC, revealed that the agency’s operatives recovered 14 cartons of suspected counterfeit drugs from a shop in Idumota.

She said: 鈥淲e were screening a shop when we found out that the owner is also a task force head.

“He claimed that some individuals attempted to escape with these cartons the previous day but abandoned them when they saw the Task Force approaching.”

According to Ubah, since the products had no clear ownership, NAFDAC took custody of them for further verification.

In his remarks on the development, Mr. Innocent Ezennaya, Chairman of the Lagos State Medicine Association, Island Zone, expressed concerns over the ongoing inspection exercise.

Ezennaya noted while regulatory officials regularly monitor their activities, this particular operation was more intense, as the inspectors checked shops one after another during the enforcement operation.

He expressed optimism that by the end of the operation, regulators would have helped to improve efforts at sanitising the business environment.

Kindly Share This Story