The Senate of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has raised fresh concerns over the circulation of suspected counterfeit and substandard medicines and unsafe food products in Nigeria, renewing calls for stronger enforcement and consumer awareness. The concerns were reported on 6 September 2026 by The Nation, which said the NANS Senate was warning about risks associated with unsafe products.
The warning comes against a broader regulatory push to strengthen Nigeria’s food and medicine control system. NANS has previously worked with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on food-safety awareness. On 6 February 2026, Vanguard reported that NANS and NAFDAC held a food-safety summit in Lagos focused on contamination, food handling, storage and compliance with safety standards.
The latest concerns should, however, be distinguished from claims that have not been established by nationwide medical data. Reports of rising kidney disease, liver problems or birth defects linked specifically to fake medicines require clinical evidence before they can be presented as national trends. Such claims should therefore be treated as reported concerns rather than established nationwide statistics.
NAFDAC has several mechanisms designed to help consumers identify legitimate medicines. Its Green Book provides information on registered pharmaceutical products, allowing users to check medicines against the regulator’s registration records. The agency has also continued enforcement operations against products that fail regulatory requirements.
The regulatory pressure is also reaching the legislative level. On 21 July 2026, Nigeria’s Senate passed the second reading of a bill seeking to replace existing food and drug laws with a unified framework covering medicines, food and other regulated products. The proposed law includes provisions for product traceability, post-market surveillance, safety monitoring and mandatory recalls where public health is threatened.
Meanwhile, NAFDAC and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) renewed their cooperation on 6 May 2026. The official FCCPC statement said the agreement would improve information sharing, complaint handling, joint investigations and technical cooperation between the two agencies.
The developments underline a wider challenge for Nigeria: protecting consumers requires more than seizures and enforcement raids. Regulators must also improve product traceability, public awareness and access to reliable information while manufacturers, distributors and retailers face stronger accountability.
For consumers, the safest approach remains to obtain medicines through legitimate channels and verify products through official regulatory systems where possible. For NANS, the continuing circulation of unsafe products makes consumer protection and public-health enforcement issues that require sustained attention from government and regulators.
