Food Regulatory Failure In Nigeria: How NAFDAC Went Silent While Poison Reached The Market

Food regulatory failure in Nigeria is measured in bodies rather than seizure reports, as social media exposure over fake toothpaste, yoghurt, palm oil and paracetamol collides with the regulator’s own record of counterfeit hauls. When Saturday PUNCH sought comment from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control this week, its enforcement chief declined to speak, while a source at the Standards Organisation of Nigeria simply redirected every question back to NAFDAC. That exchange says more about the crisis than any seizure figure does.

Food regulatory failure in Nigeria starts with two agencies pointing at each other

NAFDAC and SON exist to prevent situations like this, yet when asked who was responsible for the flood of fake products, both pointed away from themselves. Lawyer Ibrahim Adebayo said such agencies now “only issue directives, bark sometimes, and nothing is done afterward.”

What Nigerians are buying in the Market now

The list reads like a grocery inventory gone wrong: counterfeit Oral-B toothpaste substituting toxic diethylene glycol for safe glycerine, fake Hollandia yoghurt packaged in unsanitary conditions, dyed palm oil, painted apples, and paracetamol tablets that differ visibly in colour between batches. Doctors say the consequences are not cosmetic. Physician Rotimi Adesanya linked counterfeits directly to rising liver failure, kidney failure and infertility cases in Nigerian hospitals.

NAFDAC’s own numbers show the scale before the outrage did

This is not a new problem dressed up in viral videos. NAFDAC found in 2025 that 30 percent of drugs sold in open markets were fake or substandard. In February 2026 alone, the agency seized more than 10 million doses of fake malaria medication and uncovered a N3 billion warehouse of banned drugs hidden inside an uncompleted Apapa building. The seizures prove NAFDAC can find the problem. They do not prove it can stop it.

Food regulatory failure in Nigeria has a cost beyond one bad batch

Once an agency’s credibility slips, the damage spreads past the immediate victims of a contaminated product. Legitimate manufacturers lose sales to cheaper counterfeits on the same shelf. Hospitals absorb patients whose “treatment” never treated anything, extending illnesses that should have resolved in days. Lawyer Muhammed Adam put it bluntly: “Nigerians are being killed slowly, quietly and profitably.” When citizens stop trusting what they buy, the strain does not stay contained to one product, it becomes a tax on every transaction in the market.

Food regulatory failure in Nigeria will not be solved by more raids alone

Public affairs analyst Adebayo Abubakar argues scrapping NAFDAC or SON outright would fix nothing, since the legal powers to police the market already exist. What is missing, analysts and lawyers agree, is coordination between NAFDAC, SON, Customs and consumer protection bodies, alongside consequences that reach the people profiting from counterfeits. Until enforcement stops functioning as silos pointing at each other, seizures will keep making headlines without making markets safer. For more, see our ongoing consumer safety coverage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are NAFDAC and SON being blamed for fake products in Nigeria?

Both agencies are legally responsible for regulating consumer goods, but NAFDAC’s enforcement chief declined to comment on the crisis while a SON source redirected all questions back to NAFDAC, fuelling accusations of buck passing.

What fake products have been found in Nigerian markets recently?

Reports and viral videos have flagged counterfeit Oral-B toothpaste, fake Hollandia yoghurt, dyed palm oil, painted apples, and paracetamol tablets that differ in colour between batches.

How many fake drugs has NAFDAC seized?

NAFDAC seized over 10 million doses of fake malaria medication in February 2026 alone and found in 2025 that 30 percent of drugs in open markets were substandard or fake.

What health risks do counterfeit food and drugs pose?

Doctors link counterfeits to liver failure, kidney failure, infertility and prolonged illness when fake medicines fail to treat the conditions they claim to.

Can NAFDAC and SON fix the counterfeit product crisis?

Analysts say the agencies already have the legal powers needed, but stronger coordination with Customs and consumer protection bodies, plus real prosecutions, is missing.