The Senate of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has raised concerns over the circulation of suspected counterfeit drugs, adulterated food and other potentially unsafe consumable products across Nigeria.
The students also expressed concern about the sale of such products in markets, by roadside vendors and through online platforms, calling for stronger regulatory measures to protect consumers.
In a statement issued on September 6, the President of the NANS Senate, Ibeabuchi Moses Onyia, said the development raised questions about the effectiveness of existing measures to regulate drugs, food and other consumable products.
NANS said recent reports of suspected counterfeit toothpaste, dyed palm oil, artificially enhanced fruits, counterfeit soy sauce and olive oil, as well as suspected fake yoghurt products, underscored the need for increased monitoring and enforcement.
The association also raised concerns about the sale of drugs, supplements, cosmetics and food products through social media and e-commerce platforms, urging relevant authorities to strengthen verification and traceability mechanisms for online vendors.
NANS said regulatory agencies should improve public awareness and provide timely alerts on products suspected to pose risks to consumers.
The association also referred to recent comments by former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo concerning adulterated orange juice.
According to NANS, Osinbajo said his wife experienced unexplained headaches after consuming freshly squeezed orange juice, with subsequent tests reportedly indicating that the juice was not fit for human consumption.
The former vice-president reportedly linked the concern to the use of substances such as calcium carbide in the ripening and preservation of some agricultural produce and called for stronger regulation, enforcement and public awareness.
NANS urged NAFDAC and other relevant agencies to intensify surveillance of both physical markets and digital platforms to reduce the circulation of unsafe drugs and consumable products.
‘Let this sink in: a former Vice President of this country, a man of privilege, access, and protection, was not spared,’ NANS said. ‘If harmful, adulterated consumables can find their way to the table of a former Vice President, what hope does the average Nigerian market woman, student, or child have? This single account should have triggered an emergency national response. Instead, silence persists, and business continues as usual for the merchants of poison.’
The NANS Senate stressed that the crisis extends beyond public health.
‘Fake drugs do not merely fail to cure; they kill. Adulterated food and consumables do not merely disappoint; they poison bodies, damage organs, and cut short the productive years of citizens who should be building this nation.
‘Every Nigerian, including a student, who takes a counterfeit antibiotic believing it will heal them, and instead suffers organ damage, drug resistance, or death, represents a stolen future. Every case of chemically poisoned produce quietly consumed by families represents development denied – a workforce weakened, a generation endangered, an economy robbed of the healthy, productive citizens it needs to thrive,’ NANS Senate said.
It described the situation as ‘a development crisis, a security crisis, and a moral emergency’ that must be treated with urgency rather than ‘bureaucratic indifference.’
NANS called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene personally and urgently in what it termed the regulatory collapse at NAFDAC and related agencies, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
It demanded an immediate, independent audit of their enforcement capacity and performance.
Other demands include a total overhaul of NAFDAC’s monitoring of online and social media commerce, with mandatory verification for vendors selling food, drugs, or consumables digitally, and real consequences, including prosecution, for platforms and individuals facilitating unregulated sales; full public disclosure of the findings referenced by Osinbajo and an independent investigation into chemicals used to treat produce and consumables; immediate, visible, and sustained enforcement action against known counterfeiters and adulterators, beyond sporadic public notices; and a clear public accountability framework under which NAFDAC’s leadership reports regularly and transparently on enforcement outcomes, rather than campaigns that shift responsibility onto citizens.
‘Nigerian students will not stand by while our peers, our families, and our future are poisoned by criminals operating in plain sight because the agency meant to stop them has grown comfortable with failure,’ the statement further reads.
‘We call on President Tinubu to act – not with another committee or another statement, but with decisive, verifiable reform. The health of this nation, the safety of its people, and the very future of its development depend on it.’