The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has raised concerns over the alleged expansion of foreign counterfeit networks into Nigeria’s local manufacturing and distribution sector.
The agency’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Martins Iluyomade, disclosed this while discussing intelligence gathered on the activities of counterfeiters operating in the country. He said some foreign nationals allegedly involved in the trade were no longer relying solely on imported fake products.
According to Iluyomade, investigations indicated that some of the suspects were establishing manufacturing facilities and logistics networks within Nigeria to produce and distribute counterfeit goods locally. He said the development represented a shift from the previous pattern of producing fake products abroad and bringing them into the country.
“Before, to fake a product, you needed to go to China to bring it. Now, they are here with us,” Iluyomade said.
He explained that some operators allegedly identify products with strong market demand, obtain samples and send them to China for replication before distributing the counterfeit versions locally through logistics companies they control.
In response, NAFDAC has begun what Iluyomade described as a systematic closure of illegal logistics facilities allegedly operated by foreign nationals connected to the counterfeit networks.
The warning comes amid concerns over the circulation of potentially dangerous and substandard consumer products. Items cited include adulterated toothpaste, contaminated bottled water, fake cosmetics and unwholesome dairy products.
NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency had confiscated and destroyed regulated products valued at more than N1.5 trillion during coordinated enforcement operations in Lagos and parts of the South-East.
Adeyeye also disclosed that the agency secured 64 convictions against counterfeiters between June 2025 and June 2026. She described the figure as the highest number of convictions recorded by NAFDAC within a comparable period.
One of the convictions, she said, resulted in a five-year prison sentence handed to an operator of an illegal beverage laboratory in December.
Meanwhile, legal proceedings are ongoing at federal courts against several suspects arrested in Kano, Sokoto, Delta and Anambra states. The suspects are facing proceedings over alleged involvement in the importation and distribution of counterfeit oral-care products.
NAFDAC said it would continue to strengthen surveillance and enforcement measures nationwide. The agency said the efforts were aimed at curbing the production, distribution and sale of counterfeit and unwholesome regulated products and protecting consumers from potentially harmful goods.
