Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has significantly strengthened the operational capacity of its Directorate of Investigation and Enforcement with the deployment of three 20-foot trucks to support regulatory and enforcement activities across the country. The vehicles — a Mercedes-Benz LK 1620, a Mercedes-Benz 1414, and a Mercedes-Benz 1413 — were formally received by the Directorate at its Apapa, Lagos office, marking a major logistics boost for the agency's anti-counterfeiting campaign. The Director of Investigation and Enforcement and Chairman of the Federal Taskforce on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, Dr. Martins Iluyomade, commended the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, for providing critical operational resources to strengthen the Directorate's mandate. He noted that the vehicles would enhance the Agency's ability to respond promptly to enforcement demands, particularly the movement of personnel, equipment and seized products.
The deployment comes as NAFDAC intensifies enforcement against counterfeit, fake, unwholesome and unregistered regulated products across the country. In recent months, the agency has been at the forefront of a nationwide crackdown, seizing 137 truckloads of banned and expired drugs and mobilising about 1,350 buses and battle trucks in a coordinated enforcement operation. The agency has also uncovered and dismantled illegal production outlets involved in the counterfeiting and adulteration of alcoholic beverages, while also sealing shops at the Lagos Trade Fair Complex over unregistered cosmetic products. The Directorate of Investigation and Enforcement, under Iluyomade's leadership, has been central to these operations, conducting major seizures in markets across Onitsha, Aba, Lagos and the Trade Fair Complex.
The trucks will support the Directorate's core mandate of investigating and prosecuting offenders, as well as the physical evacuation of confiscated goods. The agency has previously destroyed counterfeit, expired and substandard products valued at N1.8 billion in Abuja, and fake drugs worth N2 billion in Kaduna. NAFDAC has also warned that cosmetics, food and beverages account for over 50 per cent of counterfeit products in the country. With the new logistics capacity, the agency is expected to sustain and expand its enforcement operations, particularly in the movement of personnel, equipment and seized products. The deployment of the three 20-foot trucks signals a strategic investment in the agency's enforcement infrastructure, as NAFDAC continues its zero-tolerance approach to counterfeiting and the circulation of unwholesome regulated products across Nigeria.
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