Chinese counterfeit syndicates are reportedly moving beyond importing fake goods into Nigeria and are now setting up manufacturing plants and logistics networks locally to produce and distribute counterfeit products.
Martins Iluyomade, Director of Investigation and Enforcement at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), disclosed the development while highlighting the agency’s growing concerns over organised counterfeit operations in the country.
Iluyomade said intelligence gathered by NAFDAC showed that some operators now identify fast-moving products in the Nigerian market, send samples to China and reproduce them locally. The products are then distributed through logistics companies allegedly controlled by members of the networks.
“Before, to fake a product, you needed to go to China to bring it. Now, they are here with us,” Iluyomade said.
He said NAFDAC had begun systematically shutting down illegal logistics facilities allegedly operated by foreign nationals linked to the counterfeit trade. The move comes amid concerns over potentially dangerous products, including adulterated toothpaste, contaminated bottled water, fake cosmetics and unsafe dairy products.
NAFDAC Director-General Prof Mojisola Adeyeye said the agency had confiscated and destroyed regulated products worth more than N1.5 trillion during coordinated enforcement operations in Lagos and the South-East. She added that the agency recorded 64 convictions of counterfeiters between June 2025 and June 2026, its highest number of convictions within a single period.
One of the convictions involved the operator of an illegal beverage laboratory, who received a five-year prison sentence in December. NAFDAC said the conviction formed part of its wider campaign against the production and distribution of unapproved and potentially harmful products.
The agency also disclosed that court proceedings remain ongoing against several suspects arrested in Kano, Sokoto, Delta and Anambra states over the alleged importation and distribution of counterfeit oral-care products.
The latest disclosure signals a shift in the counterfeit products challenge facing Nigeria. Rather than dealing only with fake goods entering through international supply routes, NAFDAC is now confronting alleged local production networks and distribution systems operating within the country.
