Customs Seizes Expired Drugs Worth ₦59 Million, Hands Them To NAFDAC

(Customs Seizes Expired Drugs. Photo Credit: Punch News)

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has received a shipment of expired pharmaceutical products valued at more than ₦59 million from the Nigeria Customs Service’s Port Harcourt Area I Command.

The agency claims that the seizure stopped dangerous medications from getting to unsuspecting Nigerians.

The handover, according to a statement issued by the service on Wednesday, took place at the command’s headquarters in Port Harcourt and was witnessed by representatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, the Department of State Services, other security agencies, freight forwarding associations and industry stakeholders.

According to the statement, the Nigeria Customs Service, Port Harcourt Area I Command, formally handed over a consignment of intercepted expired medicaments to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control at the Command’s headquarters on Wednesday, 29 July 2026.

Speaking during the ceremony, the Customs Area Controller of the Port Harcourt Area I Command, Comptroller Salamatu Atuluku, said the seizure underscored the command’s determination to stop harmful and prohibited pharmaceutical products from entering the Nigerian market.

Disclosing that the expired drugs were intercepted during a joint cargo examination conducted by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service in collaboration with NAFDAC and other relevant government agencies.

She described the seizure as a clear demonstration of the command’s commitment to keeping such products out of circulation, adding that the consignment comprised several cartons of expired pharmaceutical products with a Combined Insurance and Freight value of over N59 million.

The Customs boss warned that allowing expired medicines into circulation could have posed severe health consequences for millions of Nigerians, and commended the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, for supporting intelligence-led operations and strengthening inter-agency cooperation.

Receiving the seized items on behalf of NAFDAC, the agency’s Deputy Director of the Port Inspection Directorate, Pharm. Adepoju Raufu, praised the Customs Service for preventing the expired drugs from entering the country’s pharmaceutical supply chain.

Assuring that the agency would immediately commence the necessary regulatory procedures to ensure the safe disposal of the expired medicaments in accordance with established laws and guidelines.