The Senate on Wednesday passed for second reading a bill seeking stiffer penalties for offenders involved in counterfeit medicines and unsafe food products, including a proposed 15-year jail term for medicine hawkers.
The Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2026 (SB.951), sponsored by Senator Umar Suleiman representing Kwara North, also provides for asset forfeiture, compensation for victims and stronger enforcement powers for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
If passed into law, the bill will repeal the existing Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods Act, replacing it with a framework designed to address emerging threats including online drug sales, cross-border trafficking, sophisticated counterfeiting techniques and organised criminal networks.
Leading the debate, Suleiman said the current law had become inadequate to address the evolving nature of counterfeit drug operations, and that the bill aims to protect Nigerians from preventable deaths and disabilities while restoring confidence in the healthcare system and legitimate pharmaceutical industry.
He explained that the bill criminalises the production, importation, manufacture, transportation, distribution, sale, possession and facilitation of counterfeit medical products and unwholesome foods, and also outlaws the production or possession of counterfeit packaging materials and manufacturing equipment.
It further prohibits the sale and hawking of medicines at unauthorised locations such as open markets, motor parks, roadside stalls, buses, ferries and unlicensed online platforms. Senate President Godswill Akpabio thanked senators for their contributions and said concerns over the bill’s relationship with the existing NAFDAC Act would be addressed at the committee stage.
He noted that offenders risk up to 15 years’ imprisonment, heavy fines, compensation to victims or their families, sanctions against corporate organisations and their directors, and forfeiture of assets linked to the offences.
To strengthen enforcement, the bill empowers NAFDAC to deploy modern product-tracking technologies, establish national and state enforcement task forces, inspect facilities, seize counterfeit products, arrest suspects, seal premises and intensify surveillance at ports of entry.
It also grants the Federal High Court exclusive jurisdiction over offences under the proposed law and provides for accelerated trials.The bill received overwhelming support from senators, though some lawmakers called for clarity on its relationship with the existing NAFDAC Act.
