The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that it raked it N2.5 billion in fines from recent enforcement raids targeting illegal drug sales in three major cities-Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba.
The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this on Wednesday during an appearance before the House of Representatives Committee on Food and Drug Administration and Control.
According to her, the amount was collected as penalties from vendors caught selling counterfeit and substandard pharmaceutical products in open markets across the country.
She explained that all the funds were deposited into NAFDAC’s official account.
Of the N2.537 billion generated, N996 million was used to execute the enforcement operations, while N159 million had to be borrowed from a donor-funded grant to support the effort. An additional N1.175 billion went into regulatory expenditures, leaving the agency with a balance of approximately N206 million.
She said that the operation, which involved the deployment of over 1,300 security personnel, uncovered a wide array of violations, including the sale of expired drugs, unregistered medicines, and poor storage practices.
She added:“The charges were paid directly into NAFDAC’s account,” she said. “We spent nearly N1 billion on operations across Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba. Due to limited funding, we had to borrow N159 million from a donor grant. After spending N1.175 billion on regulatory activities, only about N207 million remained.”
She noted that some traders were found dealing in restricted drugs such as Tramadol and other harmful substances. The fines, she stressed, were not punitive but necessary for enforcing standards. The default penalty for violating Good Distribution and Storage Practice (GDSP) is N2 million, but in many cases, it was lowered to N500,000 to encourage compliance.
She lamented that the agency’s capacity to sustain similar enforcement operations has been severely undermined by revenue constraints imposed by the Federal Government. She explained that although NAFDAC had N19 billion in its account at the end of 2023, N9 billion was removed before the agency could access it, and only N4.5 billion was eventually released.
On NAFDAC’s 2024 operation in Kano, Adeyeye described it as a unique, court-ordered intervention that differed significantly from the enforcement actions in southern cities. She said the raid followed a February 16, 2024 Federal High Court judgment that mandated the relocation of open drug market traders to the newly established Kanawa Pharmaceutical Centre, a Coordinated Wholesale Centre (CWC).
“The traders resisted. There were threats of violence. They locked their shops, but we responded by sealing them off with stronger padlocks,” she said. “They were allowed to reopen only after agreeing to relocate to the regulated CWC.”
Unlike the southern operations, no fines or administrative charges were collected in Kano due to the judicial mandate and the volatile security situation. Post-marketing surveillance was conducted after the traders relocated.
“At the time, our accounts had just been frozen and reopened with a zero balance at the start of January 2024,” she recalled. “Despite the financial strain, we had to act in line with the court’s order, relocating over 1,300 shops to the regulated facility.”
She lauded the Kano State Government for establishing the CWC, noting that it was the only state in compliance with the presidential directive long before her tenure. In contrast, Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba had no CWCs, which required NAFDAC to inspect and sanction violators instead.
Speaking on concerns raised by lawmakers over perceived preferential treatment of Kano traders, Adeyeye said the agency acted based on the urgency of the court ruling and the risk to personnel.
“In hindsight, more inspections or charges might have been ideal,” she said. “But the situation was too volatile, even one of our legal officers was nearly attacked. We had to prioritize safety and compliance with the court order.”
NAFDAC’s Director of Finance and Accounts, Adeniji Nma, stated that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has reclassified NAFDAC as a revenue-generating agency, allowing it to automatically deduct a significant portion of the agency’s revenue.
He said:“There was a directive from the OAGF, and since 2024, 50 percent of every payment made to NAFDAC has been withheld and sent to the federal treasury,” she said. “By 2025, this deduction increased to 75 percent. This makes it extremely difficult to fund our operations, especially since most of our payments are service-based and directly tied to inspections and other activities.”