Nollywood actress Ruth Kadiri has warned Nigerians about fake products in Nigeria after she said garlic she bought and blended later changed colour and turned green.
Kadiri raised the alarm in a video shared on Sunday, October 4, 2026, urging Nigerians to pay closer attention to the food, drinks, medicines, cosmetics and household products they buy. She also called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to strengthen its efforts to protect consumers.
Why Ruth Kadiri’s Warning Has Started a Bigger Conversation
The garlic turned green experience became the trigger for a much wider discussion about product safety. Kadiri said Nigerians often buy products believing they are genuine, while some may be poorly produced, contaminated or counterfeit.
She particularly warned about the possible consequences for children and urged people who know about locations where fake products are being produced to report them. She described the fight against counterfeit products as a shared responsibility between consumers, manufacturers and regulators.
However, a change in the colour of garlic by itself does not establish that the garlic was fake or contaminated. That distinction matters because food safety claims require proper testing, something NAFDAC has also stressed in response to recent online allegations.
NAFDAC Faces Renewed Public Pressure
Kadiri’s comments come at a time when NAFDAC’s handling of fake products in Nigeria is already under public scrutiny.
In September, NAFDAC Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye rejected calls for her resignation amid concerns about fake and substandard products. NAFDAC said it had seized and destroyed products worth more than ₦1.5 trillion since 2023, while more than 7,000 non-compliant products were removed between May and July 2026.
There have also been major enforcement operations. In February, NAFDAC seized more than 10 million doses of counterfeit medicines and cosmetics worth about ₦3 billion in Lagos.
What Nigerians Can Actually Do
The immediate lesson from the renewed debate is that consumers should not rely only on appearance or social media warnings when deciding whether a product is genuine.
NAFDAC provides a product database where consumers can check registration details, while its reporting system allows suspected substandard or falsified medical products to be reported for investigation.
Kadiri’s warning has therefore put a familiar problem back in the spotlight. The bigger challenge is making sure Nigerians can trust the products on shop shelves before a suspicious experience becomes a health crisis.
For NAFDAC, the latest public reaction also creates another test: whether enforcement can move quickly enough to reassure consumers that reports of dangerous products will be properly investigated and acted upon.
