The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says it has destroyed or seized more than ₦1.54tn worth of fake and substandard products across Nigeria since 2023.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this on Monday in Lagos, describing counterfeiters as “merchants of death” and reaffirming the agency’s zero-tolerance approach to fake products.

Adeyeye said coordinated raids conducted between February and March 2025 at Idumota Market in Lagos, Onitsha Market and Ariaria International Market in Aba led to the seizure and destruction of more than 137 40-foot truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products valued at over ₦1.5tn.

She said the agency had also carried out several operations targeting fake, expired and banned medicines.

In February 2026, NAFDAC destroyed more than ₦15bn worth of fake, expired, counterfeit and banned medicines in Ibadan, while another operation in Kuje, Abuja, in March destroyed products valued at ₦1.8bn.

Adeyeye said the agency destroyed expired and unregistered drugs worth ₦11bn in Ibadan in December 2024, bringing the value of the pharmaceutical products destroyed in the three operations to ₦27.8bn.

She added that NAFDAC destroyed counterfeit beverages, spirits and revalidated foods worth ₦5bn in Aba in December 2023, while a follow-up operation in December 2024 uncovered another ₦7bn worth of similar products.

The NAFDAC boss said products destroyed nationwide in 2024 alone had a street market value exceeding ₦120bn.

She also disclosed that the agency had secured 64 convictions for counterfeiting, with offenders receiving prison sentences ranging from one to seven years without the option of a fine.

Between May and July 2026, NAFDAC’s Post-Market Surveillance Directorate visited 6,233 facilities and removed 7,210 brands and products from circulation across food and water, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and other regulated categories.

Adeyeye urged Nigerians to report suspected fake or non-compliant products directly to NAFDAC rather than relying solely on social media, saying the fight against counterfeiting required collective action from regulators, businesses and the public.