Counterfeit products: When greed becomes a weapon of mass destruction
By Akpandem James
We are today facing a crisis of monumental dimension, one that is quietly invading our homes, our leisure spots, our event spaces and our communities. It is invading our health-sphere, even when our lifestyle does not seek it by choice. There is no doubting the importance of repeated admonitions about the health risks associated with lifestyle choices including irresponsible consumption of alcohol. Today, the issue is no longer simply the irresponsible act, but the spectre of greed looming over personal choice, when choice itself is stripped away by greed.
Nigerians seem to be in a dilemma over the insensitivity of their fellow countrymen who no longer care about human lives, so long as they can make money out of any situation. The massive adulteration of drinks, the energiser of many social functions, has put the entire society at risk. There is a world of difference between a personal vice that damages the body over decades and a criminal cartel that knowingly poisons people for profit. There should be no mistaking the implications. When misguided individuals mix industrial methanol into local brews or build high-cost factories to counterfeit premium spirits, they are not just breaking trade laws, they are involved in marketing potentially lethal substances.
In the last few months, reports of discovery of several fake and counterfeit product factories across the country have again raised fresh concerns about recurring death and serious illnesses among citizens arising from organ failure. Dialysis centres are now congested with young persons, whose kidneys and liver have been destroyed by toxins they unknowingly ingested during ordinary social outings. Hospitals are swarmed with people who innocently took counterfeit drugs for health remedies. Mortuaries are over flowing with bodies of those who consumed fake drugs that lacked the advertised potency. Eye centres now record high traffic because of optic nerve attack.
As these are happening, some demented fellows who place money above humanity are in business, smiling to the banks, without guilt, without any sense of remorse. It is a sad commentary, a development that should not be treated merely as a regulatory infraction but a grave crime against humanity. This level of wickedness demands strict consequences because such acts have crossed the line, from a public health challenge into deliberate mass poisoning of unsuspecting citizens for selfish pecuniary gain.
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Much has been said about the dangers of fake drugs, but the merchants of death are still in business despite actions to stop them. Recent concerns have shifted to drinks: water, fruit and carbonated drinks, including liquor and spirits, because of the potential mass effect. It has become threatening because regulatory enforcement seems not to have fundamental deterring effect on manufacturers and distributors of fake consumable products. Pharmacies and markets are flooded with fake medicines, even pharmacists claim they no longer know the difference between fake and genuine drugs.
More worrisome is the fact that drugs are generally purchased as remedies for health conditions, but drinks are routine refreshments and social lubricants. The healthy and merry walk into terminal diseases by just trying to cool off or calm down. Unsuspecting in all ramifications. It is like purchasing death at leisure time with hard-earned resources. It is mindboggling that human beings, fully aware of the implication of their actions, would knowingly endanger the lives of thousands of others in peacetime, for financial gain.
The picture is grim, if painstakingly painted. Take alcohol as case study. Even standard alcohol consumption carries long-term health risk, with individuals facing known, gradual biological and social consequences over years. Consumption of adulterated and fake products is far worse. The criminal act of adulteration transforms a lifestyle health risk into an immediate, non-consensual lethal trap. Standard alcohol destroys organs over decades, but fake brews act as instant metabolic toxins. Both ethanol and methanol belong to the family of alcohol, but a criminal substitution of ethanol with industrial methanol causes acid buildup in the bloodstream. Built-up toxins trigger acute kidney shutdown, sudden liver collapse and massive metabolic shock. Methanol also attacks the optic nerve directly, which could lead to permanent blindness within 24 to 48 hours.
The statistics of casualties are scary. Over time, there has been recurring incidences of multiple fatalities associated with the consumption of adulterated products. In the last ten years, there has been reports of mass fatalities across the country. Two states, Ondo and Kano among others, have recorded mass deaths within the period. In 2015 and 2026, Ondo State recorded, in one incident, 33 and 49 deaths respectively. There were about 182 casualties in the 2026 incident. In a 2021 incident in Kano, 10 deaths and 50 kidney injuries were recorded. There are thousands of isolated cases across the country in any given year. The figures are mind-wrenching. According to some health sources, fake products account for about 4.7% of the total cancer cases in Nigeria. Reports indicate that fake spirits are directly driving an unprecedented demand for emergency kidney dialysis among young, unsuspecting Nigerians.
Before our very eyes, we are witnessing the weaponisation of sophisticated deception. Counterfeit operations have evolved into multi-billion-naira cartels. This is evidenced by NAFDAC’s recent ₦750 million seizure in Aba and ₦2 billion raid at the Lagos Trade Fair complex. Aba has become a recurring decimal in this troubling equation. The Onitsha Bridge Head Market is another home to fake and adulterated drugs and consumables. Another is Bua market still in Onitsha, where fake goods reportedly carry NAFDAC numbers assigned to other products. The Trade Fair market in Lagos is mentioned as another home of product counterfeiting. For drinks, the big cartels counterfeit luxury brands like Glenfiddich, Jameson, Johnny Walker and Hennessy, directly spreading the threat from the familiar rural and suburban informal markets into the elite urban social circles.
The emerging bad optics is adding bad paint to an already sullied picture of the country. Just as one bad apple is being removed, a rotten one emerges, keeping the country perpetually in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. This picture remains bad because the unbecoming enterprise seems to spare no sector, and particularly disastrous in the areas of food, medicine and related consumables. Sadly, the phenomenon is still being treated as one of those problems associated with society renegades. But it is worse than that! It is worse than a war situation! The numbers keep growing by the day, because either the regulatory agencies are overwhelmed, enforcement is inadequate or some of their personnel are complicit. How else should the recurring raid on the Cemetery Road Market in Aba be understood? Often this happens without evidence of arrests of the main culprits. The fact that such manufacturing structures are left in place after each raid encourages the return of the fleeing rogue merchants.
People are now afraid of buying packaged food, wines and spirits because the market is saturated with adulterated brands. This is definitely going to affect the turnover of small businesses. The uncontained fake market has triggered international travel advisories from the UK, Canada and Australia, with possible implications for Nigeria’s economic and tourism standing. This is signal enough for the activation of concerted and collective action towards smashing the illicit business. The regulatory agencies, the enforcement authorities, civil society organisations, service outlets, the local communities, individuals and all, must join the vanguard to save humanity from the blood merchants.
National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the country’s focal agency for regulating food, drugs and other consumable products, must activate every available channel of support to bring down this monster before it brings down everyone. The citizens themselves also have a responsibility to fight back. They can use the relevant reporting channels to expose suspicious manufacturing outlets within their locations, and promptly report collaborators and suspected counterfeit products.
One major reason bad behaviour flourishes in Nigeria is because perpetrators are not promptly exposed and adequately punished. They get away with a little more than a slap on the wrist, if they face any consequences at all. When incentives of crime far outweigh penalties, offenders are encouraged to take risk and continue in their nefarious activities. A profit of about ₦2 billion, for instance, could make a relatively minor penalty such as a temporary closure of a facility, appear inconsequential to a well-financed counterfeiting operation. It should not be so! Since counterfeiters knowingly distribute industrial-grade poisons as consumer goods, public policy and judicial consequences must treat such actions not as a regulatory trade infraction, but as a severe felony against public safety.
Apparently because of the grave consequences of a badly controlled regime, the Nigerian Senate is currently working on firming up a law against the monster. Senator Umar Sadiq Suleiman, while presenting the Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2026, suggested up to 15 years’ imprisonment, heavy fines, asset forfeiture and compensation for victims or their families. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) for further legislative scrutiny.
Good as that may seem, it does not look severe enough to deter persons who have absolute disregard for human life. Because they produce weapons of mass destruction, the penalty for such crime should be extreme; an option of fine should not be on the cards. The current legal framework prescribes fines and prison sentences for those involved in counterfeiting of food and drugs, but NAFDAC has been pushing for stiffer legislative penalties.
That is why the recent suggestion of a death penalty for offenders by Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, received applause from some sections of public. On his X handle, October 21, 2026, Onanuga described such fellows as lacking in conscience, and can only be stopped with a death penalty. The suggestion is apt and reflects the depth of public anger over a trade in which the pursuit of profit comes at the expense of human life. It is a fitting punishment for mass assassins, for that exactly is what the counterfeiters are.
It is high time we moved beyond periodic raids, public condemnations and promises of tougher action. There must be sustained intelligence-led enforcement, effective prosecution, the pulling down or permanent closure of illegal production facilities in accordance with the law, protection for whistle-blowers as well as public education that enables consumers to identify and report suspicious products. Action should go beyond the counterfeiters. It must cover the entire value-chain: their materials’ suppliers, logistics providers, direct up-takers and supply outlets. There should be a ban on sale of used beverage bottles and other containers. Citizens can help by perforating containers after use to prevent immediate conversion into illicit use.
James, a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, lives in Abuja
