The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down 18 warehouses in Bida, Niger State, after uncovering a large cache of expired food and beverage products worth an estimated 100 million naira.
The operation, conducted by NAFDAC’s Investigation and Enforcement team, followed credible intelligence about illicit storage and distribution activities. The warehouses, situated around Ndazabo White House along Minna Road, behind Bida Modern Market, were sealed during the raid.
A statement from NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Olusayo Akintola, detailed the seized items. These included expired non-alcoholic beverages, dairy milk, candies, bottled water, and pasta. Notably, some products were already packaged for distribution, such as 80,000 packets of expired drinks and 16,000 packets of bottled water. Additional assorted expired goods were also recovered.
During the operation, the managers of the warehouses were arrested for interrogation. Preliminary investigations linked the facilities to a company identified as BY Ventures. This led NAFDAC officials to extend their operation to supermarkets owned by the same company in Minna, the Niger State capital. Those supermarkets were similarly sealed after additional expired products and counterfeit Goya oil were allegedly found on the premises.
The Managing Director of BY Ventures, Alhaji Yusuf Nadabo, was invited for questioning and reportedly admitted ownership of the expired products. According to NAFDAC, the investigation remains ongoing, and appropriate regulatory sanctions will be imposed at its conclusion to deter similar practices.
This enforcement action highlights NAFDAC’s continued efforts to clamp down on the distribution of substandard and expired consumables, a significant public health concern in Nigeria. The agency asserts that such operations are critical to safeguarding consumers and maintaining market integrity. Further findings from the investigation are expected to be made public in due course.
