By Joke Kujenya
TO CHOKE off the importation of substandard, counterfeit, and expired medicines into Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is tightening its regulatory net on pharmaceutical exports from China and India.
The agency announced it is ramping up its Clean Report of Inspection and Analysis (CRIA) scheme by appointing Cotecna Inspection Services as a new global testing and inspection partner, reinforcing an aggressive crackdown on falsified regulated products at the source.
The move, NAFDAC says, follows its high-profile operations that led to the seizure and destruction of over ₦1 trillion worth of substandard medicines in Idumota, Onitsha, and Aba open drug markets—hailed as one of the largest anti-counterfeit drug actions in the agency’s history.
Speaking during a hybrid technical meeting in Lagos, NAFDAC Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, outlined the deepening challenges of substandard and falsified medicines (SFs), particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
She described the illicit trade as a deadly, organised, and highly lucrative global crime that undermines healthcare systems, causes treatment failures, and puts lives at risk.
“In Nigeria, we are fighting back with strategy and vigilance,” said Prof Adeyeye. “Our CRIA scheme is one of the cornerstones of this effort.”
Under her leadership, the CRIA framework was overhauled—one agent was suspended and eventually disengaged, two had their contracts renewed, and two additional CRIA agents were engaged in India to strengthen inspections.
The goal: ensure only high-quality, compliant products are cleared for export to Nigeria.
CRIA agents are charged with a series of strict responsibilities.
They inspect shipments physically, verify packaging and labelling, conduct random product sampling for laboratory analysis, and cross-check shipping documentation. Any deviation, from falsified labels to failed lab results, is flagged to NAFDAC before products ever leave their country of origin.
Presently, four CRIA agents operate in China and five in India. These include Assurance Analytics Pvt. Ltd, QCS Labs LLP, Quntrol Labs Pvt. Ltd, Silis Labs Pvt. Ltd, and newly onboarded Cotecna Inspection Services.
Cotecna’s Vice President, Mrs Lena Sodergren, described the partnership as “a shared commitment to consumer safety and international trade integrity,” citing the CRIA framework as the most comprehensive regulatory mechanism she has encountered on the continent.
CRIA’s impact is measurable. In the past five years, nearly 200 consignments destined for Nigeria were stopped after failing CRIA-mandated testing or documentation checks.
The introduction of an electronic Ports Inspection Data Capture and Risk Management System (PIDCARMS) further bolsters the process, offering digital verification of NAFDAC and CRIA documents.
Dr Olakunle Olaniran, Director of the Ports Inspection Directorate, reported several interceptions of falsified products—ranging from altered labels to deliberately evaded screenings—were successfully blocked due to intel from CRIA agents.
To plug potential backdoors, Prof Adeyeye also revealed plans for closer collaboration with the Indian government. This initiative aims to track and prevent rejected products from being re-exported into Nigeria through unregulated routes.
“We must know what happens to medicines we reject in India,” she warned, “and ensure no unscrupulous actors smuggle them into Nigeria.”
She urged exporters to engage CRIA agents before shipping regulated products and reiterated that CRIA processing is mandatory for all such items—unless exempted on the official CRIA exemption list.
