Metuh Demands Harsher Penalties, Slams Five-Year Jail Term

– Tasks National Assembly on Tougher Laws, Asset Forfeiture

Statesman and politician, Chief Olisa Metuh, has referred to as for stiffer penalties for the manufacturing and distribution of pretend medication and adulterated shopper merchandise, describing a five-year jail time period or a N5 million wonderful as grossly insufficient.

Metuh, who’s the Director of Mobilisation and Organisation of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors (RHA), stated the federal government should cease treating the menace with child gloves.

He was reacting to Wednesday’s conviction of a businessman, Innocent Okoye, by the Federal High Court in Abia State for producing and distributing pretend Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Okoye was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment, with an choice of a N5 million wonderful.

Describing the sentence as a “mere slap on the wrist,” Metuh warned that such punishment might make counterfeiting and product adulteration a manageable enterprise expense for unscrupulous producers and distributors.

He stated adulterated medicines, meals, drinks, cosmetics and family merchandise might trigger critical sicknesses, organ injury and preventable deaths. He famous that unsuspecting Nigerians usually bear the implications of offences able to affecting a whole lot or 1000’s of individuals earlier than they’re detected.

“The law must respond with consequences that fit the crime,” Metuh stated, arguing that the absence of direct bodily confrontation between offenders and their victims doesn’t make product counterfeiting any much less harmful than typical violent crimes.

The lawyer urged the National Assembly to urgently overview present legal guidelines on drug counterfeiting, pharmaceutical adulteration and the falsification of shopper merchandise, with penalties reflecting the hurt prompted, the offenders’ intentions, their monetary positive aspects and the diploma of recklessness concerned.

He referred to as for considerably longer jail phrases, together with sentences corresponding to these prescribed for grave violent crimes the place the offences end in loss of life or critical damage. He additionally advocated fines proportionate to the illicit income made and the injury prompted.

Metuh additional advocated asset forfeiture, the closure of offending amenities, compensation for victims, the withdrawal of harmful merchandise from circulation and the prosecution of company executives, producers, importers and distributors who knowingly facilitate such crimes. He, nevertheless, harassed that harder legal guidelines have to be backed by swift prosecution and constant enforcement.

“A five-year jail term or N5 million fine amounts to a mere slap on the wrist,” he stated, insisting that such punishment mustn’t ever grow to be the worth of doing enterprise with human lives.

The Senate had, in July 2026, handed for second studying the Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2026. The proposed laws prescribes a 15-year jail time period upon conviction, asset forfeiture, compensation for victims and stronger enforcement powers for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).