The director-general (DG) of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, has disclosed that the agency generated N2.5 billion through recent drug enforcement actions carried out in markets located in Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba.
Adeyeye made this disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja while appearing before a House of Representatives committee.
In recent weeks, the drug regulatory body carried out operations that led to the shutdown of certain markets in Aba (Abia State), Onitsha (Anambra State), and Lagos over the sale of fake medicines.
“The charges collected were paid directly into a NAFDAC account. The total amount was about N2.5 billion—roughly N2.537 billion,” she said.
She explained that the charges were not intended as punishment but were essential for regulatory enforcement. “The standard fine for violating goods distribution and storage practice (GDSP) is N2 million, but in many cases, we reduced it to N500,000.”
Adeyeye said after covering the expenses related to the operations, the agency retained N207 million from the total amount.
“For the operation in the three markets, Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba, about N996 million was spent,” she stated.
“We had to borrow N159 million from an existing grant because we didn’t have funds. In addition, regulatory expenses amounted to N1.175 billion. So, out of the N2.537 billion, we have only about N207 million left in the account.”
She also noted that NAFDAC is facing funding challenges that make it difficult to sustain key operations. She cited an incident in Kano last year where traders defied the agency’s enforcement team, despite a valid court order.
According to her, a federal high court had ordered the relocation of open drug market traders to a newly developed coordinated wholesale centre (CWC), also referred to as the Kanawa pharmaceutical centre.
“The traders initially resisted. There were real threats of violence. But we had no choice but to act. They padlocked their shops, but we bought bigger padlocks and sealed them. To reopen, they had to agree to relocate,” she said.
“These are the lives we are trying to save. We had no funds at the time; our accounts had just been shut down and reopened with zero balance at the start of January 2024.
“Yet, we had to carry out the court judgement and move over 1,300 shops into the regulated centre.”
She mentioned that Kano was the only state that implemented the CWC initiative as directed by a presidential mandate prior to her appointment.
“In the south—Lagos, Onitsha, Aba—there was no CWC. So, our approach was different. We had time to prepare, inspect, and charge offenders according to their violations,” she added.
When questioned about the seemingly softer treatment of Kano traders compared to their southern counterparts, the NAFDAC DG clarified that the agency operated strictly within the court’s mandate and had to consider the volatile security situation.
“In retrospect, yes, we could have done more inspections or collected administrative fees. But that wasn’t feasible under the circumstances. Even a legal officer was almost killed at the court premises. It was a volatile situation,” she said.
Following her remarks, the committee, led by Regina Akume, a lawmaker from Benue, requested a detailed account of the fines collected from each market and the agency’s full revenue, including any deductions made by the accountant-general’s office as a revenue-generating agency.