…Found expired USAID, UNFPA drugs in raided warehouses
The National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has proposed a death penalty for drug peddlers in Nigeria.
Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general, NAFDAC, said the call has become necessary owing to the damage done by drug peddlers to Nigerian society.
While speaking on a recent nationwide operation with a joint task force at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, Adeyeye called on the National Assembly to expedite the amendment of the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods Act and also include life sentence and death penalty to deter people from perpetrating the act.
“With the signing into law, the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) for forfeiture of assets, the assets recovered from suspects will be treated as proceeds of crime after their conviction by the courts.
“We use this opportunity to call on the National Assembly to expedite the amendment of NAFDAC ACT NI LFN and the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods C34 ACT to include life sentence and death penalty in the penalties for crimes committed under these Acts.”
She valued the illicit and fake drugs recently seized by the agency at about N1 trillion.
The agency said the seized consignments of banned, expired, unregistered substandard and falsified medical products will be destroyed publicly in each of the locations where they were seized.
Read also: NAFDAC seals over 3,000 shops in Lagos open drug market
Adeyeye described the exercise as “purely an enforcement operation to protect public health and rid our country of falsified and substandard medical products.”
“Many people are dying; many have died as a result of the activities of the fake drug peddlers.”
Raided warehouses
She further revealed that the agency discovered “large quantities of donated antiretroviral drugs, expired female and male condoms by USAID, UNFPA” during the recent raids in warehouses in Lagos, Onitsha and Aba markets.
“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 at today 26th 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,” she said.
Speaking on challenges faced by the agency, the NAFDAC DG said she is constantly under fear of attacks despite the presence of security aides attached to her.
“I move everywhere with security operatives. This is not my lifestyle, but I have to adapt to it.”
The NAFDAC DG also revealed that Oxytocin injection and several other thermolabile products stored under extremely hot temperatures were also discovered.
“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.
“We also found 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). This drug combination has not been licensed anywhere in the world and outrightly banned for use in the European Union.”
Others drugs found included: Tramadol, Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), Nitrazepam and Diazepam that have been fuelling insecurity in the country.
She said the volume of narcotics and controlled substances seized from each of these locations is enough to jeopardise the security of the country.
According to her, “Warehouses were filled to the brim with such drugs listed above without windows and where temperature could be as high as 40° C, a high potential for chemical degradation of the products into less effective and toxic degradants.”
