The Senate on 8 July 2026 passed for second reading a bill that would replace Nigeria's 2004 counterfeit and fake drugs law with a new framework prescribing up to 15 years' imprisonment and asset forfeiture, and referred it to the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) for a report within four weeks.
The Senate on 8 July 2026 gave second reading to the Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2026 (SB. 951), a bill sponsored by Senator Umar Sadiq (Kwara North) that seeks to repeal and replace Nigeria's existing counterfeit and fake drugs law.
The bill proposes a custodial term of up to 15 years and asset forfeiture for persons found to have manufactured, distributed or sold fake drugs, counterfeit medical products, adulterated cosmetics, mislabelled chemicals or unsafe processed foods. It would replace the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap. C.34 LFN 2004, which currently governs this area alongside the NAFDAC Act, Cap. N.1 LFN 2004.
Following debate, Senate President Godswill Akpabio referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), directing the committee to report back within four weeks.
What second reading means
Second reading is the stage at which the Senate debates the general principles of a bill — its policy objective and overall merit — rather than its clause-by-clause text. A bill that scales second reading has not been passed into law; it has cleared only the threshold vote allowing it to proceed for detailed committee work. Under Senate procedure, the Senate President assigns a bill cleared at second reading to the relevant standing committee, which is empowered to hold public hearings, take memoranda from stakeholders and experts, and examine the bill clause by clause before reporting back to the full Senate with recommendations, amendments or a request for further time.
A bill only becomes law after it clears third reading in the Senate, undergoes the same process in the House of Representatives (or is harmonised between both chambers where versions differ), and receives presidential assent. SB. 951 is at an early stage in that sequence; its legal effect, if any, does not begin until assent and commencement.
Proposed changes to NAFDAC's powers
The bill would expand the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control's enforcement powers beyond the current statutory framework. Under the existing Cap. C.34 Act, NAFDAC's task forces may seize prohibited drugs, poisons and unwholesome processed foods, with such items forfeited to the Federal Government upon seizure. SB. 951 proposes to add modern product-tracking technology, dedicated national and state enforcement task forces, powers of facility inspection, arrest, sealing of premises, and strengthened surveillance at ports of entry. These are proposed additions to NAFDAC's mandate; they do not take legal effect unless and until the bill is passed and assented to.
What happens next
The Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) has been given four weeks to report back on the bill. A four-week reporting window is a procedural instruction internal to the Senate's own timetable; it governs when the committee is expected to return the bill to plenary, not a fixed date for the bill's passage. Committees may seek extensions, and a bill can be delayed, amended substantially, or fail to advance beyond this stage.
