…Agency Seizes N1.5tn Substandard Goods, Secures 64ļ Convictions In One Year
… Foreign Operators Allegedly Building Local Production, Logistics Networks
Daud Olatunji
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has raised the alarm over a new dimension in Nigeria’s counterfeit-products trade, saying Chinese counterfeiters are increasingly establishing manufacturing plants and logistics networks in the country.
The agency said the development represented a shift from the previous pattern in which counterfeit products were manufactured abroad and smuggled into Nigeria for distribution.
The Director of Investigation and Enforcement at NAFDAC, Martins Iluyomade, disclosed this on Wednesday, saying intelligence gathered by the agency indicated that some foreign operators were now producing and distributing fake products locally.
Iluyomade said, “Before, to fake a product, you needed to go to China to bring it. Now, they are here with us.”
He explained that the operators identify fast-moving products in the Nigerian market, send samples to China and subsequently establish local production and distribution networks.
According to him, some of the networks allegedly involve logistics companies owned or operated by the foreign nationals.
He said NAFDAC had commenced a systematic crackdown on illegal logistics facilities allegedly being operated by foreign nationals linked to the counterfeit trade.
The development comes amid growing concerns over the circulation of potentially dangerous and substandard consumer products, including adulterated toothpaste, contaminated bottled water, fake cosmetics and unwholesome dairy products.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency had confiscated and destroyed regulated products worth more than N1.5tn during coordinated enforcement operations in Lagos and the South-East.
Adeyeye also disclosed that the agency secured 64 convictions against counterfeiters between June 2025 and June 2026, describing the figure as the highest number of convictions recorded by the agency.
One of the convicted operators was sentenced to five years in prison in December after being found guilty of operating an illegal beverage laboratory.
NAFDAC further disclosed that legal proceedings were ongoing before Federal High Courts against several suspects arrested in Kano, Sokoto, Delta and Anambra states over the alleged importation and distribution of counterfeit oral-care products.
The agency said the intensified enforcement was part of efforts to protect Nigerians from products capable of endangering public health and to disrupt networks involved in the manufacture, importation and distribution of counterfeit regulated products.
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