The Director General of the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has alarmed that her life was under threat because she has no freedom to move the way she pleases anymore due to her efforts to rid the country of fake and illicit drug products.
She said her staff who assist to make her job meaningful are also facing security threats, giving account of how one of her staff member’s son was kidnapped, but luckily escaped from the abductors.
The NAFDAC boss gave this account on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, at ‘Meet the Media Parley’ organised by the Presidential Media Team.
Speaking on the controversies trailing recent seizures in some drug markets within the country, estimated at about N1 trillion, she said the recent large-scale enforcement operation across three major open drug markets of Onitsha, Aba and Lagos, will pass as one of the biggest seizures in NAFDAC’s history.
Narrating the challenges faced by her agency, NAFDAC DG 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.”
She stated that the ongoing crackdown on illicit drug trade by operatives of the agency has 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.
She said as part of NAFDAC’s National Action Plan (NAP 2.0) 2023-2027, aimed at eliminating counterfeit medicines, improving regulatory compliance, and safeguarding public health operation was executed in Ariaria and Eziukwu Markets (Aba), Bridge Head Market (Onitsha), and Idumota Drug Market (Lagos).
She further 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 who cordoned off the markets to prevent traders from concealing or smuggling out illegal products.
Shocking violations of drug storage and distribution regulations, including: 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.
Furthermore, significant volumes of Tramadol, Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), Nitrazepam, and Diazepam drugs linked to rising drug abuse, crime, and insecurity, were seized.
According to the NAFDAC boss, a large quantity of Tafradol, which is unapproved anywhere in the world but widely abused in Nigeria, recently banned in India after a BBC undercover investigation exposed its illicit export to Africa, was discovered in Onitsha.
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, 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.
On fake, expired, and unregistered drugs, she disclosed that banned and expired drugs were hidden in plumbing and wood plank sections of Onitsha’s Bridge Head Market, far from the authorities’ usual focus while unregistered and falsified products were found in over 7,000 shops screened during the operation.
The Director General announced that so far, 40 arrests have been made, with suspects facing prosecution, urging the National Assembly to develop the will to enact death penalty or life imprisonment for peddlers of fake and counterfeit drugs in the country as the only way for perpetrators to atone for their wickedness, especially the level of fake and counterfeit products in circulation in the country.