In Tinubu’s Nigeria, Fake Products Take Over as Survival Now Means Buying Poison

Life in Nigeria is becoming unbearable. Prices are climbing every day, fake goods have taken over the markets, and families are being forced into dangerous choices to survive. The Bola Tinubu regime is not just failing; they are pushing many closer to the grave. Their actions have created a “poverty-death spiral”, a direct threat to the lives of millions. As much as 40 per cent of the products in Nigerian markets are now reportedly fake or substandard. This isn’t just a matter of inconvenience but a matter of life and death.

The link between the country’s economic devastation and the deadly rise of counterfeits is undeniable. The economic policies implemented by the Tinubu government have pushed millions to the brink. Walk through any Nigerian market today, and you will see that shelves are filled with cheap, fake products. There have been reports that as many as 4 in 10 items sold are counterfeit. Medicines that don’t heal. Food that poisons. Building materials that collapse. Electrical parts that spark deadly fires. Nigerians have no choice but to buy fake or buy nothing.

But why are people buying fakes in the first place? Because genuine products have become unaffordable. Inflation has spun out of control. As of August 2025, Nigeria’s inflation rate hit 20.12 per cent. Food inflation alone reached a brutal 21.87 per cent. Meat, rice, and beans, once staples on the table, are now luxuries.

“My children eat without meat now,” says Mrs. Gloria Okafor, a mother of three. “We cannot afford it. We just eat to stay alive.”

Policies from the Tinubu regime have made the situation worse. The removal of the fuel subsidy doubled transportation costs overnight, sending food prices soaring. The government now wants to add new taxes, including a 5 per cent surcharge on refined fuel products and wider VAT and stamp duties. To Nigerians, it feels like the government is squeezing every last naira from their pockets.

The consequences are deadly. Counterfeit drugs alone have killed thousands. Patients fighting hypertension, asthma, or infections end up swallowing chalk, sugar water, or sand disguised as medicine. Children have died after taking fake cough syrups. Drivers have crashed when counterfeit brake pads failed. Families have been burned alive by fake electrical cables. Entire homes have collapsed from buildings made with substandard cement.

Deaths from fake products, including medicines, food, and cosmetics, are so widespread that they exceed the number of people killed by Boko Haram,” said Dr Iluyomade,

It is estimated that fake and adulterated goods drain Nigeria of N15 trillion every year, but the real cost is human lives. And yet, the government agencies meant to protect citizens, like NAFDAC and SON, are crippled by corruption. Officials routinely let containers of fake goods slip through ports in exchange for bribes. Government orders even pushed SON officers out of the ports, leaving Customs officials to manage the process, thereby opening the gates for fraud.

NAFDAC has destroyed counterfeit goods worth ₦4 billion in 2023, but this is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the crisis. For every raid, countless more dangerous products flood Nigerian markets.

Meanwhile, the much-hyped cash transfer programmes to ease the pain of subsidy removal have reached less than half the intended families. International bodies like the IMF praise Tinubu’s “reforms” for stabilising the economy, but on the streets of Nigeria, these same reforms mean more hunger, more fake goods, more deaths.

The government’s actions are sacrificing the health and lives of its own people for the sake of fiscal targets and the interests of a select few.

Nigerians need to ask whether their leaders even care if they live or die. When policies push people into poverty, corruption lets fake products thrive, and relief never reaches people experiencing poverty, what conclusion can citizens draw?

Until urgent action is taken, fighting corruption, enforcing objective standards, and easing the crushing cost of living, the spiral will only deepen.

How many Nigerians must die before the Tinubu regime admits that its current path is killing its own people?

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