50% imported pharmaceutical products in Nigeria are fake – NAFDAC

NAFDAC reports that half of the pharmaceutical products imported into Nigeria are counterfeit, as disclosed by its Director General, Mojisola Adeyeye, at a recent event in Abuja. Despite adherence to WHO guidelines for the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CPP), many arriving in Nigeria are fake.

Adeyeye highlighted the threat these substandard products pose to public health and universal health coverage in Nigeria and Africa. Most of these counterfeit drugs originate from South East Asia. NAFDAC is intensifying efforts to combat this issue, pledging stringent actions against companies compromising product quality.

Adeyeye expressed concern over the prevalence of falsified medicines in Africa due to limited regulatory processes, stressing NAFDAC’s mandate to reduce substandard and falsified medicines both locally manufactured and imported. The agency’s strategy focuses on prevention, detection, and response to tackle this critical issue.