The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday said it seized 87 truckloads of banned, expired and substandard medicinal products, including USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs, male and female condoms, among others.
NAFDAC’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who revealed this on Wednesday, added that counterfeiters were after her life and those of her workers.
Adeyeye, who briefed State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, said, ‘I told you about the attempted murder about six months ago. One of our staff members in Kano had his child kidnapped because he was doing his job. Fortunately, the child escaped.
‘For me, I have two policemen living in my house 24/7 in Abuja and Lagos. I don’t have a life.
‘I can’t go anywhere without police escorts. That’s not my way of living, but I don’t have a choice because we must save our country. Nonetheless, I also use common sense’.
NAFDAC is currently on a nationwide crackdown on illicit drug trade, which saw it raiding the country’s three major open drug markets of Ariaria and Eziukwu in Aba, Bridge Head Market in Onitsha and Idumota Drug Market in Lagos.
The campaign is part of NAFDAC’s National Action Plan 2.0 (2023-2027) to eliminate counterfeit medicines, improve regulatory compliance and safeguard public health.
She affirmed that the operation uncovered shocking violations of drug storage and distribution regulations, including diverted donated medical supplies, large quantities of USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs and condoms meant to support Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS response were found expired and repackaged for sale.
These life-saving medications, she added, were either improperly stored or deliberately resold for profit, undermining global efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
While the integrity and legality of some of the products were not in question, the storage environment was harsh and could denature the products, she explained.
‘Some of the products (seized) are large quantities of donated antiretroviral drugs, expired female, and male condoms by USAID, UNFPA.
‘Large quantities of pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, prescription-only medicines, etc. These products were discovered stacked in toilets, under the staircase, and on the rooftop at very high temperatures without consideration for cold chain storage requirements.
‘Oxytocin injection and several thermolabile products stored under extremely hot temperatures, enough to denature any genuine pharmaceuticals.
‘The problem is not only about the originality of the products but about the environment and storage. Products recommended to be stored at -8°C, -2°C to 8°C were found in this environment’, she noted.
Among the discovered goods were large quantities of controlled drugs such as TAFRADOL (recently banned in India after BBC undercover exposure of the company manufacturing and exporting various illicit drugs to Africa, including Nigeria), Tramadol, Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), Nitrazepam and Diazepam.
‘The volume of narcotics and controlled substances seized from each of these locations is enough to destabilise the country security-wise’, she added, saying the agency also found vast quantities of banned, unregistered, expired products in the plumbing and wood plank sections of the Head Bridge.
‘Warehouses filled to the brim with such drugs listed above, without windows, and where the temperature could be as high as 40°C, a high potential for chemical degradation of the products into less effective and toxic degradants’, the NAFDAC DG explained.
Adeyeye, who described the operation as the agency’s most significant in history, put the value of drugs seized at N1 trillion, saying post-assessment figures could be much higher.
“It is N1 trillion. It may be an underestimation for now, but when we finish the operation, we will have a good idea’, she clarified.
Commencing on 9 February 2025, it involved 1,100 security operatives, including military personnel, police, and Department of State Services agents.
According to her, the security forces cordoned off the markets to prevent traders from concealing or smuggling illegal products. So far, 40 arrests have been made, with suspects facing prosecution.
‘During this exercise, NAFDAC succeeded in removing from circulation 87 truckloads of banned, expired, unregistered, suspected falsified and substandard medical products from the three markets removed from over 7,000 shops screened as of today, 26 February 2025.
‘A database of these shops and the offences committed has been created for further steps. More than 40 arrests have been made, which will be followed by prosecution’, Adeyeye said.
She explained further details of the operation, saying: ‘The screening of shops ended on Tuesday, 25 February, in Idumota and Aba as shops with non-violative or non-NAFDAC regulated products are being reopened. Owners of such shops are being asked to sign undertakings agreeing to relocate to the designated Coordinated Wholesale Centre on completion.
‘Meanwhile, the operation continues in Onitsha Head Bridge until next week, when a similar process of opening the shops to non-violative shop owners and charging the violative ones accordingly will commence.
‘After the operation, NAFDAC and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria plan the relocation of these markets within the next one year to the scheduled Coordinated Wholesale Centres. There will be six such CWCs across the country, representing one per geopolitical zone’.
The anti-drug chief said her efforts had put her and her staff members in the line of assassins’ fire.
She called on security agencies to protect them amid hazards as she advocated the death penalty for those producing and selling fake drugs in the country.
