Business
Experts blame economic crisis for worsening scourge of fake drugs
…as NAFDAC seizes a trillion naira worth of illicit products, warns against threat to life
The economic meltdown in the country is said to be largely responsible for the upsurge in the scourge of fake drugs in the country. This seems to be the consensus of many stakeholders, who spoke to Business Hallmark on the renewed threat to health the menace has constituted.
Pharmacist Dotun Abimbola of Grace Pharmacy Ikotun, told Business Hallmark that “What many don’t know is that there’s a dangerous nexus between economic difficulties, which includes harsh business environment and policies and upsurge in fake and adulterated drugs. Marketers are driven by profit motive, so to make profit they cut corners using unscrupulous drugs producers in places like India.”
The Director General of the National Agency for Foods, Drugs, Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye has long canvassed the same opinion, which may have informed their renewed vigor in the fight against fake drugs, given the worsening economic hardship in the country.
Dr. Akinremi Olufeaagba, a retired consultant gynaecologist, told this medium that “Unless the federal government can come up with incentives for the health sector, especially drugs manufacturing, issues like fake drugs will continue to fester, the control agency will try but to make a headway there must be realistic policies for health sector, as it’s done in better climes. For example, the yearly budgetary allocation is always below the UN benchmark. Health is the important but there is no incentives for the sector.”
The pervasive nature of the fake drugs phenomenon, which has become an epidemic, forced NAFDAC to embark in February on a nationwide onslaught against the scourge, shutting markets in Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba, which are considered centers of the illicit trade.
Prof. Adeyeye 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.”
Operation successes
Giving more details, Prof. Adeyeye said the ongoing crackdown on the illicit drug trade by operatives of the agency has led to the seizure of 87 truckloads of banned, expired, and substandard medical products, including USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs, male and female condoms.
According to her, the value of the seizures is at least N1 trillion and could be a notch higher after full assessment.
The operation which began in February 9, was carried out in Ariaria and Eziukwu Markets (Aba), Bridge Head Market (Onitsha), and Idumota Drug Market (Lagos).
The heavy crackdown, according to her, was part of NAFDAC’s National Action Plan (NAP 2.0) 2023-2027, geared towards eliminating counterfeit medicines, improving regulatory compliance, and safeguarding public health.
Prof. Adeyeye revealed that the exercise involved 1,100 security operatives, including military personnel, police, and Department of State Services (DSS) agents.
She stated that the security forces cordoned off the markets to prevent traders from concealing or smuggling out illegal products.
Significant volumes of Tramadol, Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), Nitrazepam, and Diazepam — drugs linked to rising drug abuse, crime, and insecurity — were seized.”
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.
She averred that the drug that were unapproved anywhere in the world, has been widely abused in Nigeria.
Also 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.
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.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, coordinated security forces for the operation, ensuring strict compliance.
Adeyeye, in February sounded the alarm over threats to her life and that of the agency’s staff, calling on the authorities to protect the operatives who daily navigate a great deal of hazards while carrying out their assigned responsibilities.
Prof. Adeyeye addressed newsmen at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where she had gone to speak on the agency’s recent large-scale enforcement operation across three major open drug markets—Onitsha, Aba, and Lagos—describing it as the biggest in NAFDAC’s history. She also disclosed that the value of the seized illicit and fake drugs was estimated at N1 trillion.
The recent experience is a throwback to a recent history. It could be recalled that late Prof. Dora Akunyili, the former head of the agency.was haunted and hunted by drug cartels due to her unrelenting and uncompromising efforts to combat counterfeit drugs in Nigeria during her tenure as the Director-General of NAFDAC from 2001 to 2009.
Adeyeye stated that “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.”
The Onitsha market was reopened on March 6, following a sanitization operation that began on February 10.
Dr. Martin Iluyomade, Director of Enugu Zonal Operations, announced the reopening during a stakeholders’ meeting last Thursday.
The meeting included representatives from NAFDAC, Anambra State, and the Onitsha market leadership.
Other markets affected
In addition to the drug market, other affected markets included the Plumbing, Wood, Science Progressive, and Surgical markets.
Iluyomade clarified that the reopening was not intended to penalize neighbouring markets, which had unfortunately become major warehouse locations for medicine traders.
He emphasized that the operation was based on extensive intelligence gathering and that the closure was necessary to prevent confrontation with traders.
“The discovery in the market was alarming,” he stated, revealing that large quantities of narcotics capable of destabilizing any nation were recovered.
“We found fake and counterfeit medicines in over 50 trailers, along with banned drugs dating back to 2007,” he added.
Conditions for reopening
While the market has been reopened, around 4,000 shop owners, who were profiled and suspended, must individually visit NAFDAC to clear themselves before resuming business.
The NAFDAC DG attributed what is happening today in the country regarding flooding of fake and adulterated medicines, was as a result of a court action which the patent medicine dealers brought against Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN.
This litigation lasted for 10 years but was resolved in February 2024.
PCN, which is supposed to be in charge of licensing drug distribution firms and practitioners, could not perform its functions due to the encumbrances of the court action taken by the medicine dealers.
“This left a free space for fraudulent activities to thrive. So, we have today millions of patent medicine dealers engaged in the business of drug distribution and sale,” she said..
Many experts have linked fake and adulterated drugs to high mortality among users.. It also makes the population lose confidence in the healthcare system in the country.
Dr. Ariyo Adekunle of Olive Hospital, Ipaja said, “fake drugs, in addition to causing death, can also lead to further complications, such as weakening the immune system of users, extensive and expensive treatment and the development of other symptoms.”
