By Chesa Chesa
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, says her relentless crackdown on importers and distributors of fake and expires medicines in Nigeria has put her life and the agency’s staff in danger.
Addressing a press conference at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, Adeyeye pleaded with government and security agencies to protect the operatives who daily navigate a great deal of hazards while carrying out their assigned responsibilities.
She also disclosed that the recent raid by NAFDAC on three major open drug markets in Onitsha, Aba, and Lagos was the biggest in agency
history and that the value of commodities seized therefrom was estimated at about N1 trillion, and could be much higher after final assessment.
Narrating the agency’s challenges, the NAFDAC boss said: “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.”
Adeyeye explained 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.
She 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.”
Shedding more light, Prof. Adeyeye said the ongoing crackdown on the illicit drug trade by operatives of the agency has also resulted in the seizure of 87 truckloads of banned, expired, and substandard medical products, including USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs, male and female condoms.
Adeyeye revealed that the exercise, which commenced on February 9, 2025, involved 1,100 security operatives, including military personnel, police, and Department of State Services (DSS) agents, and uncovered shocking violations of drug storage and distribution regulations.
“Diverted donated medical supplies: Large quantities of USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs and condoms, meant to support Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS response, were found expired and repackaged for sale. These life-saving medications were either improperly stored or deliberately resold for profit, undermining global efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Significant volumes of Tramadol, Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), Nitrazepam, and Diazepam—drugs linked to rising drug abuse, crime, and insecurity—were seized”, she stressed.
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, whereas the drug, unapproved anywhere in the world, has been widely abused in Nigeria.
Prof. Adeyeye noted that vaccines, prescription medicines, and thermolabile drugs (requiring cold storage) were found stacked in toilets, staircases, and rooftops at dangerously high temperatures.
Similarly, Oxytocin injections and other essential medicines were stored under extreme heat, rendering them ineffective and potentially harmful.
Some warehouses were packed with pharmaceuticals in rooms with no windows, where temperatures could reach 40°C, accelerating chemical degradation.
