Nigeria convicts fake drug importer, closes rogue pharmacies

A court in Nigeria has convicted a drug importer, John Mbanude, of participating in the trade in counterfeit products, according to local press reports.

Nigeria's National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) brought the prosecution against Mbanude after he was found to have imported fake medicated soaps which on analysis were found not to contain the claimed active ingredients.

In a statement, the NAFDAC said that Mbanude was ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 naira (about $3,500), although it is understood the agency had been hoping for a jail term.

The conviction is further evidence of Nigeria's ongoing war against counterfeit medicines and other regulated products.

In recent months the country has adopted the use of handheld TruScan monitors, supplied by Ahura Scientific, to monitor medicines at the country's borders. It has also started piloting an authentication technology based on text messaging that can be carried out by consumers themselves.

Pharmacies closed

Further evidence of a crackdown by the Nigerian authorities has come with the closure of 10 illegal pharmacies - and the destruction of counterfeit medicines worth more than 10 million naira ($67,000) - in a series of raids.

The raids were carried out by police and NAFDAC officials with support from the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN), according to a report on the AllAfrica.com website, which can be read here.

The measures are part of a programme of curbing "illegal operators, drug adulterators and infiltration of the drug market by imported and locally produced substandard drugs," says the report, citing state Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris.

Nigeria is also discussing the possibility of banning the importation of certain products at high-risk of counterfeiting from being imported into the country, according to Business Monitor International.

The move is being resisted however by the national Association of Pharmaceutical Importers (APIN) which argues that domestic production capacity is unable to meet the shortfall and drug shortages could follow.


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