Traders at the Bridge Head Drug Market in Onitsha have voluntarily handed over substandard, expired and falsified medicines worth ₦435 million to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for destruction.
The market’s Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chukwuleta Ndubisi, said the 192 consignments were surrendered by traders as part of a joint effort to rid the market of fake and unsafe medicines.
According to him, over 400 cartons of counterfeit and adulterated drugs were recovered between December 2025 and June 2026 through the market’s internal sanitisation exercise.
“The primary aim of my leadership is to sanitise the drug market. We remain committed to eliminating fake and substandard medicines from the market,” Ndubisi said.
He acknowledged that the reforms had caused discomfort for some traders but insisted the exercise was necessary to protect public health.
NAFDAC’s Deputy Director of Investigation and Enforcement for the South-East and South-South, Omoyeni Tunji, commended the market leadership for partnering with the agency to tackle the circulation of counterfeit medicines.
He disclosed that the recovered drugs would be transported to NAFDAC’s destruction facility in Awka for proper disposal.
Tunji also praised the Federal Government and NAFDAC management for sustaining efforts to combat the production, distribution and sale of fake drugs across Nigeria.
Source: NAFDAC
