Everywhere one goes in Nigeria today to purchase goods, a fundamental challenge is the menace of fake products.
And worse, despite the efforts of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to curtail the problem, the widespread distribution and sale of both fake and substandard products have refused to abate.
In major cities across the country, sellers display fake products with reckless abandon.
There is nothing the criminals can’t fake. From drinks to baby food items, they have gone ahead to import fake rice and other items.
Of special interest is the sale of fake drugs across the length and breadth of the country. And every effort by Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye-led NAFDAC to stem the tide have continued to prove abortive.
The best period to observe the dangerous trend is the festive season – both Muslim and Christian. At popular markets in Lagos for instance, such as Alaba, Oke Arin, Idumota, etc, unsuspecting customers are sold fake drinks – wine, whisky, brandy, beer, fruit juice.
Vegetable oil, canned foods, and many other adulterated edibles are pushed into the market as genuine products, and in most cases at expensive rates.
In the recent past, NAFDAC has intercepted counterfeiters involved in the production of a variety of beverages including wines, soft drinks and consumables across the country. in Eziukwu Market (Cemetery Market) Aba, Abia State for instance, in 2023, the agency followed a tip off, carried out several weeks of intelligence gathering and collation of data on the activities of these merchants of death.
In collaboration with other security agencies, NAFDAC carried out a sting operation in the market to burst the criminal operations taking place there.
The agency raided over 240 shops-turned factories where harmful products were being produced and marketed.
Over 1500 cartons of fake and substandard products were destroyed during the operation while some dangerous products were evacuated to NAFDAC warehouse. The street value of the confiscated and destroyed fake products was put at N750 Million.
Due to the sheer magnitude of illegality going on in the section of the market, NAFDAC had to shut the entire market down for thorough regulatory activity until an agreement was reached with all stakeholders in the market and an undertaking signed that the market will never be used for such nefarious activities anymore.
In Lagos, as in other cities like Kano, Port Harcourt and Benin, NAFDAC has been unrelenting in the war against counterfeiters.
On many occasions, NAFDAC uncovered that where such fake items are produced are unhygienic, thus posing unquantifiable health risks to consumers.
We are worried by the unnecessary loss of lives due to the unbridled interest of Nigerians to amass wealth illegally. Many families have lost dear ones as a result of consuming fake and harmful products.
The World Health Organisation, WHO, in its Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health estimated that more than three million people died all over the world as a result of alcohol poisoning. Furthermore, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC, ascertained that one of every 10 cancer cases in Nigeria can be traced to Alcohol and 4.7 percent of overall cancer cases in Nigeria in 2019 could be attributed to consumption of adulterated alcohol.
The United Nations Office on Drug Control, UNODC, corroborated WHO’s assertion. In a report, UNODC revealed that substandard drugs kill 500,000 persons in sub-Saharan Africa annually.
It noted that about 267,000 deaths each year have been linked to fake and substandard antimalarial medicines.
While urging Nigerians to remain vigilant, NAFDAC is tasking consumers to always scrutinize branded drinks to distinguish them from counterfeits before consuming them.
We call on the governments at all levels to complement NAFDAC’s efforts by providing the wherewithal for it in its determination to stamp out fake food and drug items.
“…about 267,000 deaths each year have been linked to fake
and substandard anti-malarial medicines.”