The Senate of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has raised the alarm over the alleged continued and unchecked proliferation of fake drugs, adulterated food, and harmful consumables flooding markets, roadsides, and online platforms across Nigeria, under the supervisory watch of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The body said that NAFDAC, which is the supervisory body, has failed in the one duty for which it exists.
Ibeabuchi Moses Onyia, President, Senate of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), raised the alarm in a statement issued to newsmen in Awka yesterday.
He regretted that the agency, established to protect the health and lives of Nigerians, has, through years of weak enforcement, poor monitoring of digital commerce, and an apparent tolerance for impunity, allowed criminals peddling poison to operate with confidence rather than fear.
“When counterfeiters and adulterators no longer fear the regulator meant to stop them, that regulator has effectively surrendered the field. This is not oversight; it is emboldenment, and NAFDAC must own that failure,” it said.
“In recent weeks alone, Nigerians have used their own initiative, not any regulatory alert, to expose a wave of suspected fake and adulterated products circulating in the open market: counterfeit toothpaste bearing a globally trusted brand, dyed palm oil, fruit painted to appear fresher than it is, counterfeit soy sauce and olive oil, and fake yoghurt products.
“Worse still, an entire shadow economy of unregulated commerce has grown online, where drugs, supplements, cosmetics, and food items are sold daily to unsuspecting Nigerians, including students, without a shred of NAFDAC registration or approval.
“Vendors operate openly on social media and e-commerce platforms with no verification, no traceability, and no consequences. This is a regulatory vacuum, and vacuums are filled by predators.
“If anyone still doubts the scale of this crisis, let them consider the recent account shared by former Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
“Osinbajo disclosed that his wife developed unexplained headaches after daily consumption of freshly squeezed orange juice, a habit widely considered healthy. When the juice was sent for laboratory testing, the result showed it was, in his words, “not fit for human consumption.”
He linked the danger to chemicals such as calcium carbide and other substances allegedly used by some farmers and traders to ripen and preserve produce, and he called for stronger regulation, stronger enforcement, and greater public awareness.
“Let this sink in: a former Vice President of this country, a man of privilege, access, and protection, was not spared. If harmful, adulterated consumables can find their way to the table of a former Vice President, what hope does the average Nigerian market woman, student, or child have?
“This single account should have triggered an emergency national response. Instead, silence persists, and business continues as usual for the merchants of poison.
“Fake drugs do not merely fail to cure; they kill. Adulterated food and consumables do not merely disappoint; they poison bodies, damage organs, and cut short the productive years of citizens who should be building this nation.
“Every Nigerian, including a student, who takes a counterfeit antibiotic believing it will heal them, and instead suffers organ damage, drug resistance, or death, represents a stolen future.
“Every case of chemically poisoned produce quietly consumed by families represents development denied. A workforce weakened, a generation endangered, an economy robbed of the healthy, productive citizens it needs to thrive.
“This is not a public health issue alone. It is a development crisis, a security crisis, and a moral emergency, and it must be treated with the urgency it deserves, not the bureaucratic indifference it has so far received,” he added.
The Senator demanded that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should personally and urgently intervene in the regulatory collapse at NAFDAC and other relevant agencies, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and order an immediate, independent audit of their enforcement capacity and performance.
He also suggested a total overhaul of NAFDAC’s monitoring of online and social media commerce, with mandatory verification requirements for any vendor selling food, drugs, or consumables digitally, and real consequences including prosecution for platforms and individuals that facilitate unregulated sales.
He equally called for full public disclosure of the findings referenced by Prof. Osinbajo and an independent investigation into the chemicals being used to treat produce and consumables sold across Nigerian markets; an immediate, visible, and sustained enforcement action against known counterfeiters and adulterators, as well as a clear public accountability framework under which NAFDAC’s leadership reports regularly and transparently on enforcement outcomes, not merely public awareness campaigns that shift responsibility onto citizens rather than the regulator.