A federal high court in Abuja has sentenced Innocent Okoye, a businessman in Abia state, to five years’ imprisonment for manufacturing and selling counterfeit Goya Extra Virgin olive oil.
Okoye, managing director of Chikason Industrial Nigeria
Limited, was convicted on two counts relating to the production and sale of the
counterfeit product.
According to information from the National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Kehinde Ogundare, presiding
judge, delivered the judgment on Wednesday, handing Okoye the option of a N5
million fine.
The conviction followed an enforcement operation by NAFDAC’s
Investigation and Enforcement Directorate in April 2026, when officials
uncovered a facility in Aba allegedly used to manufacture and distribute the
counterfeit olive oil.
Okoye was arrested during the operation, while samples of
the recovered products were taken to the agency’s laboratory for analysis. The
investigation subsequently led to his prosecution.
In January 2026, NAFDAC had warned consumers against
counterfeit Goya olive oil being sold in polyethene terephthalate (PET) plastic
bottles and presented as genuine imported products.
At a media briefing in Lagos, Martins Iluyomade, the
agency’s director of investigation and enforcement, said investigators had
uncovered an illegal production facility at Oke-Arin market, Idumota, Lagos.
He said operators at the facility allegedly mixed palm oil
with colouring agents before repackaging the mixture as Goya olive oil.
Iluyomade said genuine Goya oil approved for sale in Nigeria
was imported in its original glass bottles through authorised distribution
channels. He advised consumers to be wary of products bearing the brand name
but packaged in PET plastic bottles.
NAFDAC has urged consumers, traders and religious
organisations to verify the sources of products they purchase and report
suspected counterfeit goods and illegal manufacturing facilities to its offices
or through its official reporting channels.
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