NAFDAC, save our souls from unwholesome foods, drinks!

 

Is Nigeria now a country of fakes and counterfeits? Last week, the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council reported that it uncovered 12 fake agencies and a network of about 58 bank accounts allegedly linked to its detained Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi disclosed the findings  while presenting the panel’s preliminary report to parliamentary correspondents in Abuja on the circumstances surrounding the council’s inclusion in the Federal Budget Framework.

Over the weekend, there was a trending video where the immediate past Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo claimed that his wife Dolapo traced a recurring headache to a staple of freshly squeezed orange juice she makes a habit of taking every morning. According to the former No. 2 citizen of Nigeria, a laboratory test on the oranges she used in preparing the juice were found not to be fit for human consumption. I have also seen several videos of Nigerians talking about fake toothpastes, fake palm oil, etcetera.

For a long time, it has been uncovered that some unscrupulous Nigerians use hazardous chemicals as preservatives. Some meat sellers are alleged to use formalin; substance used in embalming corpses as preservative for their meats so that it does not get spoilt quickly. Recently, there was a trending story of a bakery which produce bread that does not get spoilt no matter how long it’s been on the shelf. This is made possible due to chemical used in baking the bread. A lot of fruit sellers have been accused of using carbide to ripen their fruits such as mangoes, oranges, banana, plantain, pineapples, etc. They also have poisonous substances they use to preserve vegetables from wilting and apples, carrots, cucumber, pawpaw, etcetera from getting spoilt quickly. In a like manner, grain sellers in the local markets have been accused of using dangerous chemicals such as sniper and other insecticides to preserve grains such as beans, maize, guinea corn, millet and the likes. 

Drinks are not immune from being faked. Some of the carbonated drinks, wines and spirits otherwise called hot drinks are produced in unhygienic environment or using unhealthy chemicals. Some expired drinks have their expiration dates cleaned off and a new date stamped on the products. Even some of the bottled or sachet waters otherwise called table water are unhygienically produced. 

What about drugs and medicines? It’s increasingly difficult to differentiate fake from original drugs nowadays. Even reputable pharmacies now sell fake and substandard drugs. The situation is worse off in rural communities where drug-sellers popularly called ‘chemists’ are the ones attending to the health needs of patients. Many of them no longer operate as drugstores but as clinics where untrained or ill-trained practitioners attend to patients without requisite skills.

Consumption of fake, substandard, adulterated, counterfeit and expired products has been killing many Nigerians slowly. Experts linked the spike in cases of liver, kidney, heart and organ failure generally to long period of consumption of these unwholesome products. Different kinds of cancers have also been traced to eating and drinking of these unhygienic foods, drinks and drugs.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control popularly known as NAFDAC was officially formed in October 1992 and legally established by Federal Legislative Decree No. 15 of 1993 (now the NAFDAC Act Cap N1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004).  The agency is tasked with safeguarding public health by regulating and controlling quality standards for specific consumer goods. The agency's core responsibilities include: Overseeing the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale, and use of regulated products. Enforcing standards on food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, packaged water, chemicals, and detergents. Conducting laboratory tests, inspecting production sites, and issuing certifications to ensure safety and efficacy and eradicating fake, substandard, or counterfeit medicines and unwholesome processed foods from the supply chain.

NAFDAC under the current Director General, Mrs. Mojisola Adeyeye who is a professor of pharmaceutics, manufacturing science, and drug product evaluation has been doing its level best.  For instance, under her leadership, NAFDAC attained World Health Organisation Maturity Level 3 regulatory status, the highest benchmarking rating in Africa, as a cornerstone of investor confidence, alongside full ICH membership attained in November 2025. Prof. Adeyeye in July this year received Special African Leadership Commendation Award at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards in London, in recognition of what the organisers described as her transformational leadership of Nigeria’s medicines regulatory agency and its emergence as one of Africa’s leading regulatory institutions.

However, in spite of these accolades and achievements, most Nigerians believe the agency is not doing enough to protect them from counterfeit and unwholesome foods, drinks and drugs. There is a general believe that the agency does not have full complement of staff and equipment to effectively maintain effective and sustained surveillance over a country as huge and highly populated like Nigeria. There is a saying that once many factories receive NAFDAC approval for their products, they drop their guards and lower the quality of their products.

NAFDAC needs to work collaboratively with other Ministries, Departments and Agencies such as Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Information and agencies under them to educate the public on the dangers of using certain pesticides, best method to preserve foods, drugs and drinks, and how customers can detect counterfeit, substandard and fake products. Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria needs to support NAFDAC in identifying fake and counterfeit drugs. Department of preventive medicines needs to work with National Orientation Agency to educate market men and women on dangers of using chemical preservatives for foodstuffs. Security agencies need to accompany and offer protection for NAFDAC, PSN, Nigeria Medical Association and similar bodies who may be helping with enforcement or public education. Those making ‘blood money’ manufacturing fake and substandard products for Nigerians to consume should note that their family members may end up being victims of this inhuman practice. They should please desist from this fiendish act.

It is noteworthy that all facets of Nigerian society are now saturated with fake and substandard products whether one is talking of building materials, motor spare parts, electrical appliances, or electronics. Academic credentials, birth certificates, monies are faked now. They all pose their dangers but none of such is comparable to what we eat and drink. So, my final appeal is for NAFDAC to stop unscrupulous Nigerians from killing us piecemeal.  President Tinubu, please ensure that NAFDAC is well resourced!

I.G: @jideojong