Merchants are flooding Nigeria’s porous borders with fake antimalarials, antibiotics, and oxytocin-like meds, endangering lives while over-the-counter availability gives consumers unchecked access to these harmful drugs.
Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC, warned on Sunday of a surge in expired, substandard, and falsified medicines—especially targeting children—and pointed to major hubs like Aba Market in Osisioma, Onitsha, and Idumota in Lagos as the central warehouses for these dangerous knock-offs.
Despite policies empowering local manufacturers to produce essential medicines, counterfeit products continue to stifle trade with cheaper, substandard alternatives.