The Silent Killer: Fake drugs claim more lives than Boko Haram in Nigeria – NAFDAC official
A National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) official, Dr. Martins Iluyomade, has made a startling claim: fake drugs have been a deadlier threat to Nigerians than the Boko Haram insurgency.
Iluyomade, who is the Director of Investigation and Enforcement at NAFDAC, made this statement on Tuesday after a five-day operation at the Lagos Trade Fair Market. The operation resulted in the seizure of over 10,000 cartons of unregistered tomato paste and cosmetic products.
“I can say authoritatively that deaths from substandard medicines, cosmetics, and unsafe foods exceed the number of people killed by Boko Haram,” Iluyomade told journalists. He stressed that this is why “the agency remains committed to ensuring Nigerians use only products that have passed regulatory processes, assuring safety and effectiveness.”
READ ALSO: NAFDAC destroys ₦1 trillion fake drugs, others
The comments come against a backdrop of a long-standing insurgency in Nigeria. The country was ranked 6th on the 2025 Global Terrorism Index, with terrorism-related deaths accounting for 6% of the global total in 2023.
According to the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), over 11,000 people have been killed in Nigeria since 2007, and millions more have been displaced by these conflicts.
The GCERF report highlights that these insurgencies, particularly in the North-East, North-Central, and North-West, have had a severe impact on the country’s socioeconomic fabric.
READ ALSO: NAFDAC launches app to easily detect fake drugs
The report also identified key factors fueling violent extremism in Nigeria, including “limited trust in the government, security forces and the justice system, limited socio-economic opportunities and religious conflicts.”
Since 2016, GCERF has invested $11.75 million in the country to address these issues.
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