NAFDAC closes Aba market for selling fake wine, beverages

In a bold attempt to stop the sale of counterfeit and inferior wine and beverages in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has closed the Aba market for the second time in two years and seized counterfeit goods valued at more than N5 billion. 

Following a similar operation in December 2023, NAFDAC's present action—the most daring since the market's inception—was executed in coordination with the Nigeria Police, DSS, and military.

In a news release, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director General of NAFDAC, stated that the counterfeiters' operations included producing various tainted goods, particularly alcoholic beverages of various brands. 

She claimed that the vast operation included more than 240 stores that were converted into factories where these inferior and counterfeit wines and beverages were made and sold in extremely unclean conditions using unclean water, dangerous chemicals, saccharin, colouring, soiled recycled bottles, and counterfeit packaging materials from other brands.

“Over 1500 cartons of fake and substandard products were destroyed during the operation. The street value of the confiscated and destroyed fake products in 2023 is estimated at over seven hundred and fifty million naira only. (N750,000,000). The estimated value of products mopped up during the December 15, 2024, operation is five billion naira. The products being revalidated and mopped up include adulterated versions of popular brands of soft and carbonated drinks, yoghurt drinks, sachet milk, and chocolate drinks,” she added.

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