THE recent outcry over suspected fake products in Nigerian markets has renewed concerns about the health risks posed by counterfeit and substandard products used and consumed daily by millions of people.

In recent weeks, Nigerians have taken to social media to share photographs and videos of products they suspected to be fake, including yoghurt, toothpaste, beverages, food and other household consumables.

The videos have raised fresh questions about how counterfeit products find their way into shops and markets and, more importantly, what consumers may be putting into their bodies without knowing.

One such video was posted on 1 September by Nigerian doctor Aniekwe Donald, who shared a detailed comparison video showing tubes he identified as genuine and counterfeit Oral-B toothpaste side by side.

The clip, which highlighted differences in packaging quality, seals, texture, translucency and taste, was widely shared across social media.

In the video, Donald demonstrated what he described as differences between the products, including seals he said were absent on the genuine product, thicker and less translucent paste, and a less minty flavour in the suspected counterfeit version.

He also recounted visiting between five and seven shops where, according to him, suspected counterfeit Oral-B toothpaste was on sale, with some of the sellers apparently unaware that the products could be fake.

Donald warned about the potential health consequences of using counterfeit toothpaste, including the possibility that manufacturers of unregulated products could use unsafe ingredients. The video went viral across various social media platforms. 

Around the same period, other toothpaste-related alerts circulated online, adding to growing concerns about products that consumers use every day.

Similarly, another account, @mariolexx, posted a video showing shirtless men packaging fake Hollandia yoghurt in a room. The account later posted a video showing two yoghurts to demonstrate the difference between the original and a counterfeit one. 

A Nigerian X user, Julius Adebayo, also shared a video showing counterfeit popular Four Cousins drinks and tomato paste being produced in an unaccredited facility.

The videos have fuelled a wider conversation about the authenticity and safety of products on Nigerian shelves.

While social media comparisons alone cannot establish that every product described online as fake is counterfeit, the concerns are occurring against a backdrop of repeated discoveries of unregistered, counterfeit and substandard consumer products by regulatory authorities.

A disturbing pattern

Nigeria’s battle against counterfeit and substandard products has repeatedly brought regulators to some of the country’s biggest markets.

Although fake medicines have long attracted public attention, recent enforcement operations show that the problem extends to products Nigerians eat, drink and use every day.

In August 2025, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) seized more than 10,000 cartons of unregistered products at the Lagos Trade Fair Market. The products included tomato paste, creams, soaps, body sprays, washes, air fresheners and toothpaste.

Earlier this year, NAFDAC also warned Nigerians about the distribution of unregistered and suspected counterfeit toothpaste.

In April 2026, the agency issued a public alert concerning products labelled as Colgate toothpaste, which it said were suspected to be counterfeit and unregistered. 

The agency recently said it had destroyed or seized more than ₦1.54 trillion worth of fake and substandard products nationwide since 2023. The products included counterfeit medicines but also counterfeit milk, skin-lightening creams, fake insecticides, cosmetics and other regulated products.

The agency’s repeated seizures show that the problem is not restricted to a single product or sector.

From toothpaste and cosmetics to food products and beverages, counterfeiters can target products that are familiar to consumers and package them to resemble established brands.

The similarity between genuine and suspected counterfeit products is one of the concerns raised by the recent social media videos.

A consumer may buy a product because of a familiar name, logo or packaging without knowing whether it was manufactured by the legitimate company or under conditions that meet safety requirements.

The health risks of fake products

But the consequences of counterfeit products can extend far beyond financial loss. Unlike a counterfeit handbag or electronic device, fake or substandard products that are eaten, drunk or applied to the body can directly affect health.

A product that has not passed regulatory checks may contain ingredients, additives or chemicals whose safety and concentration have not been verified. Its manufacturing environment may also fail to meet required hygiene standards.

This is particularly important for food and beverages. Products prepared, packaged or stored under poor sanitary conditions can become contaminated before they reach consumers. Similarly, counterfeit products may carry misleading labels, making it difficult for consumers to know their actual ingredients, manufacturing source or expiry status.

Nigeria has previously recorded deaths linked to products meant for human consumption that contained dangerous substances.

In 2008 and 2009, an outbreak of acute kidney failure among Nigerian children was traced to My Pikin, a teething mixture contaminated with diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical. An investigation involving Nigerian health authorities and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that children who consumed the contaminated product developed acute renal failure.

The case remains one of Nigeria’s clearest examples of the potentially fatal consequences of unsafe products entering the supply chain. It showed how a product purchased for routine use could expose consumers to a toxic substance they had no reason to expect.

In April 2024, NAFDAC recalled a batch of Benylin Paediatric cough syrup after laboratory tests found an unacceptably high level of diethylene glycol, a chemical that can cause acute kidney injury and can be fatal when consumed.

The episode nevertheless demonstrated that a product could carry the name and packaging of an established brand and still contain a dangerous substance that consumers cannot detect by looking at it.

Speaking with The FactCheckHub, Adewale Samuel Adeleye, President of the Association of Resident Doctors and Senior Registrar in the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, warned that the circulation of counterfeit and unregulated products could escalate into a public health emergency.

Adeleye said products that come into contact with the human body, whether consumed or applied externally, require proper regulation and supervision.

“Everything we put in our mouth, anything we rub on our body, anything that has to do with the human body, they are supposed to be regulated,” he said.

According to him, the responsibility for preventing the circulation of harmful products does not rest with NAFDAC alone. He said government regulators, manufacturers, communities and consumers all have roles to play in ensuring that products reaching the public are safe.

He said NAFDAC’s responsibility should cover the entire production process, including inspection of manufacturing facilities, the source and quality of raw materials, processing methods, storage, packaging and labelling.

Adeleye also called for more proactive market surveillance, saying regulators could purchase suspiciously cheap products from markets and subject them to laboratory analysis to determine their contents.

“I was in the market today, some people selling all kinds of toothpaste, one two for one five,” he said, referring to products being sold at unusually low prices.

He identified affordability and accessibility as two factors that could drive consumers towards counterfeit products. According to him, consumers facing financial pressure may choose cheaper products, while products sold in open markets may be easier to access than those sold through more regulated outlets.

“If you go to market now to buy any of this quality toothpaste, you will spend nothing less than two to three thousand Naira for one. And now, I am seeing it everywhere in market today, two for one thousand five hundred,” he said.

Adeleye said enforcement alone would not solve the problem if consumers remained unaware of how to identify suspicious products or where to report them.

“The awareness at the local level, awareness to the community, awareness to the consumer, the end users, is not there,” he said.

He said sustained public education could help consumers recognise products with suspiciously low prices, unusual smells or tastes, poor packaging, missing manufacturer information or other signs that differ from products they normally purchase.

The health consequences, he warned, could be serious. Adeleye linked exposure to potentially harmful substances in counterfeit cosmetics, food products and other consumer goods to long-term health problems, including kidney disease and some forms of cancer.

“Some of these metallic or heavy metals that are used in making some of these soups, some of these creams, some of these things we put in our body,” he said. “This heavy metal that I’m using can cause, you know, chronic kidney disease. It can also be responsible for some form of cancer.”

He stressed that the health risks associated with counterfeit consumables were fundamentally different from those posed by fake non-consumable goods.

“So, we’re talking about, you know, if we are talking about maybe if you buy a shoe now, it’s a fake. It’s a whole different ballgame. You buy your clothes, it’s a fake. But talking about what people are consuming inside their body, inside their body system,” he said.

For consumers, Adeleye advised Nigerians to avoid products whose quality cannot be verified, particularly those intended for consumption or application to the body.

“Anything that is not regulated, anything that we cannot verify the quality of, we should try as much as possible to stay away from them,” he said.

He urged consumers to be cautious when a product is significantly cheaper than the same product sold elsewhere and to examine its packaging, manufacturer details, ingredients and other identifying information.

He also advised Nigerians to report suspicious products to the appropriate authorities rather than continuing to use them.

“As a public health expert, prevention is always better and cheaper than cure,” Adeleye said. “Try to prevent all of this avoidable death by taking conscious effort to look at what we put in our mouth and what we use on our body.”

He added that protecting consumers from harmful products required a collective effort involving regulators, producers, communities and individuals.

“It’s not a one-man show. Everybody has their own role to play,” he said.

On his part, Yusuf Hassan, a public health pharmacist, described the circulation of fake, adulterated and improperly produced food and drinks as a serious public health threat in Nigeria.

Hassan said unsafe consumables could add to the country’s existing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, particularly when products are made with contaminated water, unsafe chemicals, poor-quality ingredients or under unhygienic conditions.

According to him, exposure to such products can result in food poisoning, organ damage and other acute or long-term health problems, with children, pregnant women, older people and people with underlying health conditions particularly vulnerable.

He said the consequences extend beyond individual consumers, as widespread circulation of unsafe products could increase pressure on families and an already stretched healthcare system.

“What may appear to be simply a consumer-protection issue is, in fact, a significant public-health and health-security concern,” Hassan said.

He urged Nigerians to be more deliberate about the products they purchase and where they buy them.

Hassan advised consumers to patronise reputable outlets, check product labels, expiry dates, packaging and seals, and watch out for signs of tampering, unusual colour, smell or appearance.

For regulated packaged products, he said consumers should verify registration information where possible and be cautious when products are sold at prices that appear unusually low.

He also encouraged consumers to report suspicious products and sellers to the relevant authorities rather than simply discarding the products.

“Consumer vigilance cannot replace effective regulation, but millions of vigilant consumers can significantly strengthen the surveillance system by helping regulators identify dangerous products quickly,” he said.

On the role of regulatory agencies, Hassan said NAFDAC and other relevant authorities needed to strengthen their capacity to move from largely reactive enforcement to proactive, intelligence-driven surveillance.

He called for increased investment in human resources, laboratory and testing capacity, digital product-verification systems, market surveillance and stronger regulatory presence at the state and local levels.

According to him, regulators must be able to identify suspicious products quickly, trace their sources and distribution networks, and remove them from circulation before they cause widespread harm.

He also called for stronger collaboration between NAFDAC, other regulatory and law-enforcement agencies, state and local authorities, manufacturers, retailers and consumer groups.

Hassan said enforcement must also carry meaningful consequences for people who deliberately manufacture or distribute dangerous products.

“Nigeria needs to make it increasingly difficult to produce a fake product, easier for consumers and retailers to verify an authentic one, and much more costly for anyone caught putting the health of Nigerians at risk,” he said.

What are health authorities doing?

Following the growing concerns over suspected fake and unsafe products, NAFDAC has defended its efforts to curb the circulation in Nigerian markets.

NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, while addressing journalists in Lagos, said the agency had removed 7,210 products from circulation after visiting 6,233 facilities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory between May and July 2026. 

While acknowledging the concerns raised by Nigerians, Adeyeye said social media allegations alone could not establish that a product was counterfeit, adulterated or unsafe without scientific verification.

“The strength of the publication could have been enhanced by a proper scientific evaluation rather than relying primarily on emotionally driven and perhaps commercially motivated social media narratives,” the agency said in its response.

NAFDAC said credible reports of suspected counterfeit or unsafe products remained important sources of regulatory intelligence, but urged consumers to use its established complaint channels so it could investigate and verify allegations.

According to figures provided by the agency, food and water accounted for the most products removed during the three months, with 3,633 products. Drugs and herbals followed with 2,459 products, while cosmetics accounted for 911 products. Medical devices accounted for 183 products, chemicals 21, and vaccines and biologics three.

NAFDAC said the exercise covered routine and proactive post-market surveillance across the country, with about 80 per cent of its post-market surveillance activities directed at detecting and curbing fake, falsified, substandard and otherwise non-compliant products.

The agency said the activities include inspections, sampling, laboratory assessments, investigation of complaints and intelligence, removal of non-compliant products from circulation and enforcement against those responsible.

In defending its enforcement record, NAFDAC cited a coordinated operation in February and March 2025 in which more than 137 40-foot truckloads of counterfeit and substandard products valued at over N1.5 trillion were evacuated and destroyed in major markets including Idumota in Lagos, Onitsha and Ariaria Market in Aba.

The agency also cited the destruction of more than N15 billion worth of fake, expired, counterfeit and banned medicines in Ibadan in February 2026, as well as the seizure of more than 10 million doses of counterfeit malaria medicines and cosmetics valued at about N3 billion during a raid at Lagos Trade Fair Market.

NAFDAC said it had also secured 64 convictions for counterfeiting, with prison sentences ranging from one to seven years without an option of fine.

The agency said its surveillance activities uncovered operators allegedly refilling 19-litre CWAY-branded water bottles with water from unapproved sources and selling them to hotels and supermarkets. The operators were sanctioned.

NAFDAC also pushed back against the perception that all unsafe products found in Nigerian markets fall exclusively under its regulatory control.

The agency said fresh agricultural produce such as apples, grapes and oranges is not solely under its control, pointing to the role of the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service in the quarantine control of agricultural commodities.

It said food safety requires coordinated action across the farm-to-fork chain, involving primary production, processing, distribution, retail and consumption.

NAFDAC also raised concerns about the adulteration of palm oil with azo dyes and the reported use of bleach and other harmful chemicals in the production of fufu and other staple foods.

According to the agency, it does not have direct and absolute regulatory oversight over unbranded palm oil, fufu and other traditionally packaged staple foods sold in open markets. It said sub-national authorities also have a responsibility to monitor such products in line with the National Policy on Food Safety and Quality.

However, NAFDAC maintained that packaged and registered food products undergo regulatory procedures intended to establish their safety and quality.

For consumers, NAFDAC urged Nigerians to report suspected non-compliant regulated products through its official complaint channels rather than relying solely on social media. The agency also provides product verification services through its official platforms, allowing consumers to check registered products using their NAFDAC registration numbers.