Worse than insecurity: How counterfeit products are sending Nigerians to early graves

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• We’re working hard to rid Nigeria of fake drugs – NAFDAC

Nigeria continues to battle growing public health and safety concerns over counterfeit and adulterated products. Stakeholders, however, blame increasingly sophisticated fraudsters and weak regulatory enforcements. LADESOPE LADELOKUN reports

With unlimited reports pointing to poisons packaged as products for consumption, concerns are mounting about the blistering attack on public health and safety of Nigerians by merchants of death.

While the production of fakes is not particularly new, stakeholders argue that counterfeiters have become daring with the quest for quick money amid faltering regulatory agencies.

From addition of cancer-linked chemicals to palm oil to ripening fruits with carbide, production of fake medicines to adulteration of toothpaste, Nigeria battles a thriving industry of fake products.

How palm oil is converted to groundnut oil using bleaching agents

A farmer and major palm oil dealer, Kusimo Olusola, revealed how groundnut, a major raw material for groundnut oil is bypassed for a cheaper method of heating the upper and lightest layer of palm oil, otherwise known as supernatant and ogere epo by the Yoruba-speaking Nigerians, by filtering and bleaching it. “It is hard to find original groundnut oil in the market.

What people do is to find cheaper alternatives by buying Ogere epo from Okomu oil in large quantities. They heat and filter it, then add bleaching agents to remove the smell and make it appear like groundnut oil.

It is usually cheaper. For instance, if the authentic groundnut oil costs N15,000 per five-litre keg, the adulterated version could go for N9,000 or N10,000. Producing the original groundnut oil is really expensive. It’s the reason the adulterated version flourishes.

Then, there are those who mix animal fat with groundnut oil. The groundnut oil could be 30 per cent and the animal fat would be 70 per cent. So, when you see coagulated groundnut oil, this kind of adulteration causes it.”

Industrial salt bagged, sold as table salt

Ordinarily, industrial salt should not find its way to cooking pots in homes because it finds usefulness in industries. But some smart businessmen think otherwise.

In an interview with Sunday Telegraph, a Lagos Official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained how he acted on the information provided by a whistle blower to destroy bags of industrial salt that were already ground and set to be sold as table salt.

“I was told that some people were grinding industrial salt and they were putting it in bags for sale. I went there. To cut a long story short, I destroyed all the consignments into the sea, into the lagoon. .

It’s not for human beings to eat. They are grinding it. It was in flakes. They were now grinding it into normal salt. It’s wrong. It’s abominably wrong. If you put a little quantity into water, the water will dry out. They grind it and bag it.” Asked if it’s cheaper than the real salt for cooking, he said: “ Of course, it’s cheaper.”

Concerns over safety of sanitary pads

In a petition dated September 28, 2026, a non-governmental organisation, The She Mission Initiatives, drew the attention of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to alleged safety concerns surrounding disposable sanitary pads sold in Nigeria, urging the three agencies to conduct a nationwide post-market audit and comprehensive laboratory testing of sanitary pads produced locally and imported into the country.

The NGO hinged its call on findings reported in a 2024 scientific research paper published in the Bayero Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, titled: “Risk Assessment of Volatile Organic Compounds in Disposable Sanitary Pads in Nigeria.”

According to the organisation, the study identified up to 34 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), noting that 17 specific VOCs were confirmed across 16 major brands, especially 1,2-dichloropropane said to be associated with carcinogenic or toxic classifications under high-exposure models.

Meanwhile, NAFDAC said it had commenced investigations into concerns over the safety of disposable sanitary pads in Nigeria, assuring the nation that it had also begun VOC tests.

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