In a statement issued on Friday via its official X handle, the agency revealed that its operatives stormed a warehouse in the Ilasa-Oshodi area, where 277 cartons of fake Malamal Forte antimalarial drugs were uncovered.
According to NAFDAC, the counterfeit products were disguised in cartons labelled Diclofenac Potassium 50mg and illegally imported from Shanxi Tianyuan Pharmaceuticals Group in China. The shipment had been falsely declared as spare parts to evade detection.
NAFDAC’s Director-General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, described the seizure as part of an intensified nationwide crackdown on drug counterfeiting.
“This operation reflects our sustained commitment to protecting public health and ensuring that only safe, quality medicines are available to Nigerians,” Adeyeye said. She added that the agency has ramped up surveillance at ports and warehouses across the country, working closely with security agencies to dismantle smuggling networks.
Backed by the Federal Government and the Ministry of
Health, Adeyeye reaffirmed NAFDAC’s resolve to stamp out counterfeit and substandard medicines. “We will not relent in our efforts to eliminate these dangerous products that endanger lives,” she stressed.The agency warned importers and distributors that further attempts to flood the Nigerian market with fake medicines would be met with uncompromising enforcement.
Counterfeit and substandard medicines remain a pressing public health crisis in Nigeria, particularly as the country shoulders one of the world’s heaviest malaria burdens. The World Health Organisation estimates that Nigeria alone accounts for 27 per cent of global malaria cases and 31 per cent of related deaths.
Public health experts caution that fake antimalarials not only endanger lives but also contribute to treatment resistance, undermining years of progress in the fight against malaria.
In recent years, NAFDAC has stepped up its offensive against counterfeiters, with raids leading to seizures of fake antibiotics, pain relievers, and malaria treatments worth billions of naira. The latest interception reinforces the agency’s warning that it will not rest until Nigeria’s medicine supply chain is purged of harmful products.
