Senior Christian clerics have said churches lack the technical capacity to detect fake or adulterated anointing oil, urging the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to strengthen market surveillance and enforcement.
The position was taken by the Ecumenical Synods of Bishops, Archbishops, Apostles and Senior Clergy following NAFDAC’s discovery of an illegal Goya oil production facility in Lagos. Goya oil is commonly used in churches for prayers, healing and spiritual rites, while also serving culinary and cosmetic purposes.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the organisation’s International Secretary, Osazee William, praised NAFDAC for uncovering the operation, describing the intervention as timely and necessary. He noted that churches often use Goya oil for prayers, adding that once prayers are said over it, it becomes an anointing oil.
According to him, ensuring the safety and authenticity of products in circulation falls squarely within the mandate of regulatory authorities. “It is not possible for churches to be checking whether oil brought in by worshippers is fake. Regulatory agencies must do their job and remove adulterated products from the market,” he said, adding that faith practices should not replace public health safeguards.
NAFDAC had earlier warned Nigerians against purchasing or using Goya oil sold in plastic (PET) bottles, describing such products as fake and unsafe. The warning was issued during a media briefing at the agency’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate in Lagos.
Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Dr Martins Iluyomade, said only Goya oil imported in original containers by authorised dealers is approved by the agency. “Any Goya oil sold in plastic bottles is fake and unlicensed,” he said.
Iluyomade disclosed that NAFDAC uncovered a large-scale illegal factory at Oke-Arin market in Idumota, Lagos, where burnt palm oil was mixed with colouring agents and repackaged as Goya oil. Items recovered at the site included palm oil, colouring substances, stoves and empty bottles.
He warned that many consumers, including religious organisations, were unknowingly exposed to the harmful product and advised churches and the public to stop the sale or use of PET-bottled Goya oil. Offenders, he said, would be prosecuted, while members of the public were encouraged to report suspected counterfeiting to NAFDAC offices nationwide.
The agency also announced the arrest of a suspect, Moses Nelson, in connection with the distribution of adulterated and counterfeit alcoholic drinks, with empty exotic bottles and packaged alcohol recovered from his residence in Badagry, Lagos State.
NAFDAC reiterated its commitment to intensifying enforcement actions against counterfeiters and protecting public health from substandard and falsified products.
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