The country’s crackdown could be a blueprint for other countries grappling with a global crisis of counterfeit and substandard medicines

Verity Bowman

Verity Bowman is The Telegraph’s Foreign and Global Health Security Reporter, covering conflict, human rights abuses, global development and international health issues, with a particular focus on Ukraine. She previously worked as a News Reporter at the Guardian and was named on the Press Awards' 30 Under 30 list in 2024.

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Published 01 May 2026 6:00am BST

Across Nigeria, flames are consuming towering piles of seized drugs – but not cannabis or heroin.

Hidden in warehouses are millions of doses of counterfeit and substandard medicines, now being burned in highly visible operations that have become the hallmark of an intensifying government crackdown.

In one of the largest raids, officials in Lagos seized 10 million doses of fake and banned drugs in February.

“What we seized from that warehouse alone could kill three million Nigerians if it…