The Lagos State Government has taken steps to strengthen the regulation of cosmetic products and procedures following the presentation of the National Policy on Cosmetics Safety and Health and its Implementation Plan to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Kemi Ogunyemi.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Director of Public Affairs, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, said the policy was officially presented during the Exit Meeting of the Lagos State Engagement on the National Policy on Cosmetics Safety and Health.
The meeting took place at the Conference Room of the Lagos State Ministry of Health on Friday and marked the end of a four-day stakeholder engagement that began on Tuesday, March 10, in Ikeja.
While speaking at the event, Ogunyemi said the engagement came at a crucial time, referring to a recent death linked to cosmetic surgery in Lagos that is currently being investigated by the Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency.
“This engagement could not have come at a better time. Only this week, we had an unfortunate incident where a well-known lady died in Lagos following cosmetic surgery,” she said, adding that relevant authorities are investigating the circumstances, including the drugs used and their sources.
Ogunyemi noted that patient safety remains a major priority for the state government, stressing that proper regulation of cosmetic products and procedures is essential to safeguard residents.
“When even one person dies, it means something has gone wrong, and we certainly do not want such incidents to happen again,” she said.
She further assured stakeholders that the state government would ensure the effective implementation of the policy across the cosmetics value chain, including manufacturers, suppliers, training institutions, and health facilities.
She added that Lagos would continue to lead other states in implementing the policy.
Speaking earlier, the Director of Cosmetics Safety in the Food and Drug Services Department of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Paul Okhakhu, said the policy was developed to address the growing cases of health complications linked to unsafe cosmetic products.
“We have been seeing cases of people experiencing adverse events as a result of the use of adulterated, wrongly formulated, or substandard cosmetic products, and because of this the government decided to take the matter seriously,” Okhakhu said.
He explained that the policy, which was validated in Lagos and later launched at the 66th National Council on Health in Calabar, is intended to guide regulatory actions and support the development of state-specific plans to tackle cosmetic safety challenges.
Okhakhu also revealed that the Federal Government is developing a national dashboard to monitor implementation progress across states, noting that Lagos was selected for early engagement because of its role as Nigeria’s commercial hub.
“If we are able to get it right in Lagos, we believe we can get it right in other states,” he said.
In his remarks, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Olawale Poluyi, described the engagement as a significant step toward implementing the policy in the state.
“Every journey begins with a step, and today marks an important step in the implementation of this policy,” Poluyi said.
She assured the visiting team that the ministry would ensure the resolutions reached during the engagement lead to practical actions, adding that the state remains committed to improving cosmetics safety and protecting consumers.
The four-day engagement brought together 49 participants from federal and state government agencies, regulatory bodies, academia, industry associations, cosmetology practitioners, civil society organisations, and the media to review the cosmetics safety situation in Lagos and develop a State Cosmetics Safety Action Plan aimed at protecting public health.