Counterfeiters will continue unless death penalty is imposed — Onanuga

File: Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has said counterfeiters will not stop their activities until the death penalty is imposed on them.

Onanuga made the remark on X on Wednesday, replying to a post by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control on the discovery of a suspected counterfeit alcohol factory in Aba, Abia State.

“These counterfeiters certainly have no conscience. Until we start imposing a death penalty on them, they will never stop their nefarious activities,” he wrote.

NAFDAC said it raided the facility at No. 25 Omenazu Street, Aba, acting on credible intelligence, and found it operating in unhygienic conditions.

The agency said the suspected operator fled when officials arrived, abandoning a vehicle containing counterfeit packaging bearing the names of Sir Edwards Scotch Whisky and Scottish Hills Whisky, empty bottles and a drum holding about 200 litres of liquid.

Inside the facility, officials found bottle caps, sealing machines, cartons, tanks of liquid “concoctions” and dirty sieves reportedly used in production. They also recovered plastic buckets and 200-litre drums of ethanol, as well as tree bark soaked in ethanol.

NAFDAC valued the equipment, materials and facility components at over ₦500m, and said the findings raised serious concerns about the safety and quality of the products.

The remark comes amid a run of high-profile NAFDAC actions against fake products. The agency said it seized and destroyed counterfeit and unwholesome goods worth more than ₦5.3bn in a week.

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That included a raid on the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, where it said it seized products worth over ₦2bn and arrested two suspects.

The House of Representatives has also called for stronger measures against fake and substandard food products, citing earlier raids on alcohol-counterfeiting syndicates in Lagos and an illegal juice factory in Badagry.

Under the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, producing or selling counterfeit drugs or unwholesome processed foods carries a fine of up to ₦500,000, or imprisonment of five to 15 years, or both. The law does not provide for the death penalty.

Neither NAFDAC nor the Presidency had commented at the time of filing.

The agency urged the public to report suspected illegal manufacturing to its call centre on 0800-1-623322 or 0700-1-623322, or by email at [email protected].