The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has called for the death penalty and life imprisonment for brand counterfeiters, describing them as “merchants of death.” She made the statement during a disclosure alleging that the agency had mopped up 7,210 fake and substandard products across Nigeria between May and July 2026.
Adeyeye made the call at a press briefing in Lagos on Monday, where she said the proposed penalties should be written into the NAFDAC Act and the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs Act, both of which are currently under review.
“We need stricter penalties, including the death penalty or life imprisonment, for counterfeiters,” she said, adding that tougher sanctions were necessary because the effects of fake products directly threaten human lives and undermine the health system.
The NAFDAC boss said the agency’s Post-Marketing Surveillance Directorate carried out proactive surveillance across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory during the three-month period, visiting thousands of facilities nationwide and mopping up 7,210 brands of products spanning food, water, drugs and herbals, medical devices, vaccines and biologics, cosmetics, healthcare products and chemicals.
Food and water products accounted for the largest share, with 3,633 items removed, followed by drugs and herbals at 2,459.
On enforcement, Adeyeye disclosed that 64 convictions for brand counterfeiting had been secured across the country, with sentences ranging from one to seven years’ imprisonment without an option of a fine. She listed specific cases, including a five-year sentence for faking a drug, a similar term for tampering with medicines, 12 months for fake ointments and condoms, and seven years for fake antibiotics. A woman convicted of pharmaceutical counterfeiting also received a seven-year sentence.
Adeyeye said the agency had investigated and made arrests over the counterfeiting of Oral-B and Colgate toothpastes, and had placed a public notice on its website to alert consumers. She said the manufacturer of Colgate reached out to NAFDAC after learning of the arrests and was “quite pleased” with the outcome.
She also disclosed that three companies were caught counterfeiting CWay dispenser water, collecting empty 19-litre bottles bearing the brand’s identity and refilling them with water from unapproved sources before selling to hotels and supermarkets. The operators, she said, have been “heavily sanctioned.”
Citing the agency’s broader enforcement record, Adeyeye recalled raids between February and March 2025 across Idumota in Lagos, Aba in Abia State, and Onitsha Bridgehead in Anambra State, which led to the destruction of over 137 truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products valued at more than N1.5 trillion. She also cited the destruction of N15 billion worth of fake and expired medicines in Ibadan in February 2026, N1.8 billion worth of counterfeit products in Kuje, Abuja in March 2026, and the seizure of over 10 million doses of counterfeit malaria medicines valued at about N3 billion at the Lagos Trade Fair Market the same month.
Adeyeye urged Nigerians to report suspected fake products through NAFDAC’s official channels, cautioning that social media allegations alone do not establish that a product is counterfeit or unsafe. She also dismissed calls for her resignation amid public concern over counterfeit goods, defending her record since taking office in 2017.
