* Bill empowers NAFDAC with advanced tracking technology
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Senate on Wednesday took a major step towards strengthening Nigeria’s war against counterfeit medicines by passing for second reading a bill prescribing a maximum jail term of 15 years, multi-million-naira fines, total asset forfeiture and mandatory compensation for victims of fake drug-related offences.
The proposed legislation, titled ‘Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2026’, seeks to repeal and replace the existing 2004 law, which lawmakers described as obsolete and incapable of addressing the sophistication of modern counterfeit drug syndicates.
Leading the debate, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Suleiman Umar Sadiq (APC, Kwara North), painted a grim picture of the dangers posed by fake medicines, describing them as “weapons of mass destruction” that constitute a grave threat to public health and national security.
