Whistle-Blower helps NAFDAC uncover N200 million fake products

The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has uncovered fake and unregistered products valued at over N200 million. The products, confiscated through a whistle-blower’s report, were stocked in a building at 11, Omotosho Crescent, off Ewedana Street, Toll Gate, Ota in Ogun State.

The building also served as production outlet for bitters with fake NAFDAC registration numbers. At a briefing in Lagos yesterday, Acting Director-General of NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, explained that the building is a bungalow of five bedrooms, with two residential rooms, while the other three, the parlour and the kitchen were used for production of unregistered, deceptive and counterfeit products. Oni, who was represented by the Director, Port Inspectorate, Mr. Kingsley Ejiofor, gave the name of the owner (withheld), adding that the products were being produced in a dirty environment by unqualified personnel. 

According to her, empty plastic bottles, caps, cartons and sticker labels of other products were also found in the facility, while the address on the labels of all the products were fake. Oni said the agency also raided Ogbaru Relief Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, where they discovered several shops used for the production, distribution, sale and storage of fake and counterfeit alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks of various popular brands valued at over N200 million. The drinks, she noted, were produced by manual mixing in plastic buckets and filled into bottles under unhygienic conditions.