Ignore social media posts attributing false quote about counterfeit drugs to head of Nigeria's drug control agency
IN SHORT: The claim that the director general of Nigeria's food and drug control agency has said that 95% of fake drugs are manufactured in southeastern cities is false. Ignore social media posts claiming otherwise.
Several Facebook posts attribute a shocking quote to Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, the director general of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac).
The posts quote her as saying: "95% of drug counterfeiting in Nigeria is done at Aba and Onitsha."
They feature an image of her being interviewed by Channels TV anchor Seun Okinbaloye on his political programme, Sunday Politics. The posts imply that Adeyeye made the statement during her interview with Okinbaloye.
Aba is a large industrial city in Abia state, and Onitsha is a port and market town in Anambra state, southeastern Nigeria. Both play a significant role in the country's economy and culture.
Nafdac is a government agency that oversees the safety, quality and efficacy of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water.
The agency has conducted several raids in the southeast since the start of 2025, confiscating substandard and expired drugs and shutting down some markets.
The same claim can be found here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
But did Adeyeye make such a statement? We checked.
No proof of statement
The interview referenced in the posts was uploaded on Channels TV's YouTube page on 17 February 2025.
In it, Adeyeye spoke about Nafdac's raids on some markets and the manufacturing of fake drugs in the country.
In response to Okinbaloye's question about where the fake and unregistered drugs were coming from, Adeyeye said most of them were imported.
"Most of the [fake] drugs are being brought into the country ... Most of the substandard or falsified drugs that are coming in, the volume is huge. The ones that we've seen in Aba, Osisioma area and the ones that we've seen in Onitsha are not from local manufacturers. They are being brought in through porous borders and through the ports."
She never said 95% of drug counterfeiting in Nigeria was done in Aba and Onitsha, as claimed online.
If Adeyeye had made such a statement, it would have made headlines. But we found no reports of it.
The same claim can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.
