The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has linked foreign counterfeiters, particularly Chinese nationals resident in Nigeria, to the rising proliferation, local manufacture, and distribution of harmful and unwholesome products across the country.
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Speaking in Lagos on Monday, NAFDAC Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Martins Iluyomade, disclosed that recent intelligence and enforcement operations revealed a shift in strategy by international counterfeit syndicates.
According to Iluyomade, illicit operators who previously exported fake goods into Nigeria have now established local manufacturing plants and logistics networks within the country.
IIuyomade stated that investigations uncovered that the foreign counterfeiters own the logistics companies used to transport and distribute the unwholesome goods adding that the regulatory agency has begun shutting down the implicated logistics firms.
The agency’s findings come amid heightened concern from manufacturers, medical experts, and economists, who have warned that the surge in substandard goods is destroying legitimate businesses, causing fatal health outcomes, and crippling economic growth.
Underscoring the scale of the crisis, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, revealed that the agency destroyed regulated fake and substandard products worth over ₦1.5 trillion during a single coordinated operation across Lagos and the South-East between February and March 2025.
She noted that NAFDAC has seized or destroyed more than ₦1.54 trillion worth of counterfeit goods nationwide since 2023.
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