Fake products: Doctors warn as manufacturers count losses
September 9, 2026 12:12 am
NAFDAC enforcement team on duty. Photo: NAFDAC
Nigerians are facing serious health risks from consuming fake goods, while industries are currently taking an economic hit, as doctors raise the alarm over unwholesome consumer goods caused by counterfeiting.
The PUNCH reported that online discourse surrounding the rise of fake items reached a fever pitch over the past weekend. Nigerians, including influencers like Scott Iguma and Aproko Doctor, raised the alarm over the rise of these counterfeited materials. Social media posts have gone viral about fake toothpastes, creams, contaminated bottled water and adulterated yoghurt drinks.
Health influencer Dr Chinonso Egemba, popularly known as Aproko Doctor, called for stronger regulation on the X platform. He said, “The whole conversation around fake products is exactly why we advocate frequently for regulation. You cannot expect the average Nigerian to be a food scientist, pharmacist, chemist, and product inspector before they can safely buy toothpaste, food, or medicine.”
He called on the agencies, including the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and Standards Organisation of Nigeria, stating, “The market needs to be properly regulated, fake products need to be taken off the shelves, and people putting Nigerians’ lives at risk need to be held accountable. We should not have to gamble with our health every time we go to the market.”
The PUNCH spoke with manufacturers, medical experts and economists who jointly raised the alarm over the surge in counterfeit and substandard products across Nigeria. They joined the call for tougher penalties, warning that the fake goods trend is wiping out legitimate businesses, killing consumers and stunting the economy.
Rising deaths warning
Medical and pharmaceutical experts said counterfeit drugs and unwholesome processed foods were causing organ damage, cardiac complications and preventable deaths nationwide.
The former Chairman, Lagos Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Babajide Saheed, described the trend as alarming and long-standing. “This is an unfortunate and dangerous trend that has happened in this country for a very long time. It is not a new thing, and the government must do something about it,” Saheed said.
He linked fake drugs to a rise in renal failure, cardiac problems and mental health complications, noting that ineffective medicines forced patients to spend more on treatment while distorting national health statistics. “You cannot get a proper statistical progress of any ailment if you continue with this type of counterfeit drug,” he said.
Saheed called for a state-of-emergency-style response from government agencies, including the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria and the NAFDAC. “Let these people do their work, not by paper, not by pronouncing what they do not do. It is an urgent issue; nobody is immune to it,” the doctor stressed.
On his part, the former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo, blamed weak penalties under the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods Decree for emboldening offenders.
“The penalties are very ridiculous. You pay a fine of half a million naira,” Akintayo said, adding that stiffer sentences, including asset forfeiture, were needed to deter offenders. “If the penalties are feeble, then you are incentivising people to commit that crime,” he said.
Akintayo said regulators were also failing to enforce existing laws, citing the absence of routine inspections of pharmacies and drug outlets. “Which of the regulatory agencies has ever visited a peri-urban area to check the quality of drugs unlawfully sold there?” he asked.
He urged consumers to buy only from registered pharmacies and to demand evidence of licensing. “It has become a consuming evil because it is consuming our people,” Akintayo said, linking the trend to rising cases of organ damage and cancer.
Manufacturers count losses
Organised Private Sector operators said counterfeiting was eroding profits, discouraging investment and pushing legitimate producers out of business.
The Vice Chairman, Lagos Chapter of the National Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Peter Popoola, said counterfeiting was hurting members of his association in multiple ways.
“Counterfeiting reduces our sales and profits. It also damages the reputation of legitimate brands because the consumer may not know the difference until he uses the product and it turns out bad,” Popoola said.
He explained that small businesses lacked the financial muscle to protect their products from imitators. “The cost of protecting our products and taking possible legal action is high. SMEs’ finances are generally limited; we cannot afford it. It slows down our growth and leads to job losses,” he stated.
Popoola described counterfeiting as “evil” and destructive to lives, property and investment. He blamed the recurring cycle of counterfeiting on weak political will, corruption and widespread poverty, noting that many consumers deliberately sought cheaper, fake alternatives despite knowing the risks. “When the original wire sells for N2,000 and the fake sells for N1,000, people go for the fake one. In a month, the wire cuts,” the NASSI executive said.
He called for government-backed grants and low-interest credit facilities to help genuine small manufacturers scale up production, alongside consumer credit schemes that would make quality products more affordable.
“The government should provide stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights, conduct effective market surveillance and invest in consumer education,” Popoola added.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Spectra Industries Limited, Duro Kuteyi, said dwindling household incomes were driving Nigerians toward counterfeit products. “There is not much money in the pocket, so everybody is looking for cheap items, and that is where counterfeiters gain access to the market,” Kuteyi said.
The renowned manufacturer urged consumers to watch for tell-tale signs of fake goods, from poorly positioned labels to soft drinks without gas. Kuteyi also linked substandard building materials to building collapses across the country. “When you put a calliper on an aluminium sheet labelled 0.7, it reads 0.5. A rod labelled gauge 16 turns out to be 12mm. This is one of the reasons buildings are collapsing,” he said.
Economic, reputational damage
Economists said counterfeiting reflected deep economic distress and warned that unchecked growth of the practice could erode public trust in government and damage the wider economy.
A Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Uyo, Prof Akpan Ekpo, said hardship and greed were driving the trend. “When an economy has serious challenges, people, in the bid to survive, go into counterfeiting. There is also the greed to become rich fast,” Ekpo said.
He warned that if the government failed to act early, the consequences would extend beyond health into economic confidence. “If you allow it to continue, consumers and their families will lose trust in the economy, and once they lose trust in the economy, they will also lose trust in government,” Ekpo said.
The economist called for stronger regulatory tracking systems and sustained public advocacy to encourage citizens to report offenders.
Similarly, CEO of Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, said counterfeiting may have resulted from many Nigerians’ inability to afford original brands and low enforcement capacity,
He explained: “When the price of some items is beyond reach, some unscrupulous elements take advantage and go and produce a counterfeit of it, especially if it’s a product that is doing well in the marketplace. Because they counterfeit good brands that are doing well, when the price of the legitimate brands is getting beyond the reach of people, the counterfeiters now take advantage of it.”
Yusuf added that high prices of genuine brands were pushing consumers toward fakes, while weak enforcement capacity at regulatory agencies compounded the problem.
“Those who are supposed to enforce, like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Standards Organisation of Nigeria and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, need more resources because it is a very wide country, and counterfeiters often operate in areas that are difficult to reach,” the CPPE chief said.
He warned that overregulation could also push legitimate operators underground. “When there is huge demand for a product, like sachet alcoholic drinks, and the system bans its production, it creates room for counterfeiters to fill that gap,” the economist explained.
Yusuf added that counterfeiting eroded market share and reputation built over years of investment. “All those who have invested in the brands being counterfeited are the ones who suffer the loss,” he said.
NAFDAC responds
Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, in a public address on Monday, said the agency has sought collaboration with relevant sister agencies on matters of public health concern, including the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service.
She said, “There is a need for coordinated implementation of the clearly defined operational responsibilities and effective inter-agency collaboration already expressed in the National Policy on Food Safety and Quality & its Implementation Plan 2023 in the interest of public health.”
Earlier, NAFDAC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria came under pressure from the outcry of Nigerians who took to social media platforms to complain about the flooding of markets and other public spaces with dangerous and fake products.
Further, Adeyeye noted open-market health challenges that NAFDAC has battled, such as the unethical ripening of fruits since 2018. She recounted that the agency restricted the availability of calcium carbide by issuing an import permit to clear it.
The NAFDAC DG urged sub-national authorities to complement the agency’s efforts through “prompt and effective monitoring of staple foods under their jurisdiction in line with the National Policy on Food Safety and Quality & its Implementation Plan.”
Arinze Nwafor is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with five years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s economy, industry, data, metro, and judiciary. He focuses on highlighting growth, policy, and market challenges shaping Africa’s largest economy. Arinze’s reporting reflects practical newsroom experience, editorial judgment, and a strong commitment to accurate, informative, and audience-focused journalism.
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