The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has raised concerns over the growing local production of counterfeit products in Nigeria.
The agency said alleged Chinese counterfeit syndicates previously involved in importing fake products are now establishing manufacturing and distribution networks within the country.
NAFDAC’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Martins Iluyomade, disclosed this while speaking on intelligence gathered by the agency on the counterfeit trade.
Iluyomade said investigations indicated that some foreign nationals allegedly involved in counterfeiting were setting up manufacturing facilities and logistics networks locally.
He explained that counterfeiters no longer necessarily need to manufacture products abroad before bringing them into Nigeria.
“Before, to fake a product, you needed to go to China to bring it. Now, they are here with us,” he said.
According to him, the alleged syndicates identify products that are already selling in the Nigerian market before reproducing and distributing them.
“They identify moving products, send samples to China, and distribute them locally through logistics companies they own,” he added.
NAFDAC has consequently begun the systematic closure of illegal logistics facilities allegedly operated by foreign nationals linked to the counterfeit networks.
The development has heightened concerns about fake and substandard products circulating across the country.
Products identified in the wider crackdown include adulterated toothpaste, contaminated bottled water, counterfeit cosmetics and unwholesome dairy products.
NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency had confiscated and destroyed regulated products worth more than N1.5 trillion during coordinated enforcement operations in Lagos and the South-East.
Adeyeye also disclosed that enforcement operations between June 2025 and June 2026 resulted in 64 convictions of counterfeiters.
She described the figure as the highest number of convictions recorded by the agency.
One of the convictions, she said, resulted in a five-year prison sentence for an operator of an illegal beverage laboratory in December.
NAFDAC also said prosecution was continuing against several suspects arrested in Kano, Sokoto, Delta and Anambra states.
The suspects are facing proceedings at federal courts over alleged involvement in the importation and distribution of counterfeit oral-care products.
The agency said its enforcement campaign would continue as part of efforts to disrupt the production, distribution and sale of counterfeit and unwholesome regulated products.
NAFDAC said it would also strengthen surveillance activities to protect consumers and prevent dangerous products from reaching the Nigerian market.
