Nigeria’s drug and food regulator has exposed a scheme in which three companies refilled counterfeit branded water bottles with water from unapproved sources and supplied them to hotels and supermarkets nationwide. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control disclosed the finding during a Lagos briefing on Monday, where Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye laid out the agency’s broader enforcement record for the beverage sector alongside food, drugs and cosmetics.
The companies used empty 19-litre dispenser bottles bearing the identity of a registered water brand, CWay, without authorisation. Adeyeye said the operators collected the branded bottles, refilled them with water from unapproved production sources, then distributed them to major hotels and supermarkets as though they were the genuine product. All three companies have been sanctioned, though NAFDAC did not name them publicly in the briefing.
Counterfeit alcohol has become an even larger share of the agency’s caseload. NAFDAC’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Martins Iluyomade, said more than half of the agency’s recent court convictions involved counterfeit drinks, manufactured in factories and concealed locations across Lagos, including ordinary shop premises. Those convictions form part of the 64 the agency has secured since June 2025, carrying prison terms of one to seven years with no option of a fine.
The agency also confirmed that enforcement of its ban on alcoholic drinks in sachets and containers under 200ml is continuing, with affected manufacturers dismantling or reconfiguring production lines for non-alcoholic products instead. That enforcement effort has run into repeated political interference this year, with the federal government twice moving to suspend it before NAFDAC resumed. Beverages have also featured in the agency’s largest destruction exercises: NAFDAC said it separately destroyed counterfeit beverages, spirits and revalidated foods worth ₦5 billion in Aba, Abia State, in December 2023, after shutting down 150 shops in the market.
Food and water sampling made up the largest share of NAFDAC’s routine surveillance between May and July 2026, with 1,808 facilities visited and 3,633 products sampled out of 6,233 facilities and 7,210 products checked nationwide overall. Adeyeye said social media reports alone cannot establish that a product is fake, urging Nigerians to file complaints through NAFDAC’s official lines instead. The agency’s enquiry line is 0700 1 623 3322, and its complaints line is 0800 1 623 3322.
