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Manufacturers on edge as counterfeiting of brands increases

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Oni

Anna Okon

These are not the best of times for manufacturers of popular products with large consumer base as it appears counterfeiters are determined to chase them out of business.

According to the Director of Enforcement, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dr. Kingsley Ejiofor, the trend of counterfeiting popular brands has risen to an alarming rate.

Our correspondent gathered that once a product was popular among buyers, people would import fake copies of the product into the country to sell to unsuspecting consumers and by so doing, they could endanger not only the health of the consumers but the reputation of the product and its makers.

According to regulatory agencies, no brand is spared in the counterfeiting game.

In March, NAFDAC paraded a distributor of fake Peak Milk who had loaded a luxury bus with the product and was taking it to the eastern part of the country.  The culprits were said to be so skilful in the act that the fake milk pack looked more appealing than the original.

Also paraded during that exercise, was a manufacturer of fake water used in mixing injections and one Mrs. Nkiru Okoro of Ezedams Nigeria Limited located along Kilometre 16, Badagry Expressway, Ojo, who allegedly used the apartment as a base for the production, distribution and sale of suspected counterfeit alcoholic beverages.

In the same vein, the enforcement unit of NAFDAC discovered a syndicate in the popular Balogun Market in Lagos that was brewing Remy Martins, Moet and Chandon, White Horse and most of the elite European liquour brands in a kiosk using crude inputs like caustic soda, plastic bucket, scarf, rubber funnel, some dangerous chemicals and a stove.

Research has tied the growing cases of kidney failure among Nigerian youths to the consumption of adulterated liquor.

In October 3, a young man in his 30s and a friend of popular Nigerian popstar, David Adeleke, alias Davido, Tagbo Umeike, reportedly died after taking over 40 shots of Tequila.

These drinks are bought and served in parties and people who consume large quantities of them thinking they are drinking original liquour end up doing damage to their kidneys, according to Yinka Adeyemi, a medical practitioner, in an interview with our correspondent.

Recently truckloads of a popular insecticide brand, Rambo, made by Gongoni Nigerian Limited, was impounded in Abidjan where a counterfeiter had gone to market the product after importing it from China.

The President of the Dangote Group said the practice was a big problem to Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.

He noted that even cement was not spared by counterfeiters, adding that some would go as far as registering another person’s trade mark.

 Reports have also confirmed that essential drugs such as those for diabetes and hypertension have been taken over by counterfeiters.

 The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Muda Yusuf,  attributed the problem to institutional challenges.

He pointed out that there was a need to strengthen institutions that were involved in product monitoring and regulation as well as other law enforcement agencies so that they could carry out their job effectively.

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