The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, raised an alarm over threats to her life and that of the agency’s staff.
This comes as the NAFDAC boss prescribed the death penalty for counterfeit and illicit drug peddlers in the country.
Prof. Adeyeye addressed journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where she had gone to speak on the agency’s recent large-scale enforcement operation across three major open drug markets in Onitsha, Aba, and Lagos, describing it as the biggest in NAFDAC’s history.
She also disclosed that the value of the seized illicit and fake drugs was estimated at N1 trillion.
Her words: “I told you about the attempted murder about six months ago. One of our staff in Kano, his child was kidnapped because the father was doing what he was supposed to do. Fortunately, the child escaped.
“For me, I have two policemen living in my house 24/7 in Abuja and Lagos. I don’t have a life. I cannot go anywhere without police, and to me, that is not my way of living. But I don’t have a choice because we’ve got to save our country. Nonetheless, I also use common sense.”
She stated that 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 after the exercise.
Prof Adeyeye also called for speedy work by the National Assembly to expedite the amendment of NAFDAC ACT NI LFN and Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods C34 ACT to include LIFE SENTENCE & DEATH PENALTY in the penalties for crimes committed under these Acts.
“With the signing into law of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) for the 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 Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods C34 ACT to include LIFE SENTENCE & DEATH PENALTY in the penalties for crimes committed under these Acts,” she stated.
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, and many have died as a result of the activities of fake drug peddlers,” she added.
Also, the NAFDAC boss said a large quantity of Tafradol, recently banned in India after a BBC undercover investigation exposed its illicit export to Africa, was discovered in Onitsha.
According to her, the drug, unapproved anywhere in the world, has been widely abused in Nigeria.
On fake, expired, and unregistered drugs, she disclosed that banned and expired drugs were hidden in plumbing and wood plank sections of Onitsha’s Bridge Head Market, far from the authorities’ usual focus, while unregistered and falsified products were found in over 7,000 shops screened during the operation.
The Director General announced that so far, 40 arrests have been made, with suspects facing prosecution.
She also said a database of the offending shops and their owners has been compiled for further legal action.
