Customs Hands Over Unregistered Medicines to NAFDAC in Kano, Warns Against Threatening Public Health
By Muhammad Bashir
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Kano/Jigawa Area Command, has handed over 45 cartons of unregistered pharmaceutical products intercepted at the SAHCO Shed of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), warning against attempts to introduce unapproved medicines into the country.
The Acting Customs Area Controller, Kano/Jigawa Area Command, Deputy Comptroller Usman Adamu, disclosed this on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, during a press briefing and formal handover ceremony at the Customs House, Bompai, Kano.
DC Adamu said the products were intercepted between 11 May 2018 and 2 February 2026 and subsequently subjected to 100 percent joint physical examination by Customs and NAFDAC officials, which confirmed that they were neither registered nor certified for the Nigerian market.
The seized pharmaceutical products included 87,100 tablets of Zyloric 100mg; 129,000 tablets of Primolut 5mg; 397,800 tablets of Allopurinal 300mg; 3,120 tablets of Proviron 25mg; 2,530 vials of Propofol 20mg; 89,670 tablets of Tenoheal 300mg; 14,940 ampoules of Ondican 4 Injection and 6,000 capsules of Orlistat 120mg.
According to him, the action was in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the NCS and NAFDAC, as well as Sections 4(f) and 55(1)(c) of the Nigeria Customs Act, 2023, which empower the Service to protect the country against prohibited and harmful imports.
“These interceptions show that the Service will not relent and will intensify efforts to ensure that unregistered pharmaceuticals do not enter our country. This will also serve as a deterrent to any attempt to import substances that are dangerous to the general public and constitute economic sabotage,” he said.
Receiving the products on behalf of NAFDAC, the Officer in Charge of the agency’s Ports Inspection Directorate, Kano, Azik Kanadi, described the handover as another demonstration of the value of inter-agency collaboration between the two organisations.
Kanadi said, “What we have here today is a consignment of unregistered medicines imported without requisite NAFDAC authorisation. Consequently, their quality, safety and efficacy cannot be assured. Such products cannot be allowed to enter the drug supply chain.” He commended the leadership of both agencies for sustaining the collaboration, saying intelligence sharing and coordinated action had continued to produce tangible results, particularly in Kano.
