Nigeria moves to regulate bootleg beauty as business booms

The Nigerian federal government has approved a regulatory framework to control cosmetics in Nigeria’s growing beauty and personal care industry. The expansion in the Nigerian beauty industry, driven by young consumer trends and increased disposable income, has created an environment rife with counterfeit and unsafe products. 

These cosmetics pose a serious public health threat and have necessitated the uptake of Nigeria’s governmental move. The regulatory framework — the National Policy on Cosmetics Safety and Health — aims to standardize cosmetics in the country, eliminate unsafe products, and ensure across-the-board safety.

“Unsafe cosmetics remain one of the greatest threats to public health in the 21st century globally,” says Daju Kachollom, the permanent secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. She underscored that some cosmetics may contain toxic substances such as formaldehyde and heavy metals, “with implications ranging from skin diseases to cancer, hormonal disorders, and kidney damage.”

Princewill Nsofor, deputy director and head of Cosmetics and Household Products Department at NAFDAC, underscores the importance of treating cosmetic safety as a major public health priority. “No cosmetic product will enter or be manufactured in this country without proper oversight.”

He explains that since cosmetics are used daily, their cumulative effects can amount to devastating health consequences, even surpassing the potential exposure risks associated with short-term prescription medicine use.

Aspirations of implementation

Nigeria has approved a new framework to ensure cosmetic safety.

Nigeria’s framework was approved at the 66th National Council on Health meeting in Calabar in late 2025 and follows a standardization strategy. It has established a Technical Working Group that converges governmental actors, academics, business partners, and civil society to increase the feasibility of practical uptake.

Paul Okhakhu, director at the Cosmetic Safety Management Programme, explains that the lack of clear national guidelines enabled unsafe practices to flourish, putting consumers at risk of avoidable health issues.

Mr Nsofor also comments on the structural issues around implementation: “Many Nigerian policies are made and kept on shelves. This follow-up shows we want to begin implementation.”

Edwin Edeh, a public health and environment specialist at the World Health Organization, underscored the need for structural follow-through guided by strong government guidelines to effectively implement the policy. 

Ongoing beauty battle

Weak coordination between agencies and a lack of oversight in regulation have been ongoing problems in Nigeria’s cosmetics ingredient safety issues, causing delays in enforcement and reforms.

In November, the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN) urged the federal government to take greater initiative to address the risks associated with gaps in the cosmetics safety system.

The beauty and personal care market in Africa was projected to reach US$69.53 billion in 2025, with Nigeria as a central gateway to the African market and Lagos as a hub for West Africa and the wider sub-Saharan region. Experts in the IPAN workshop argued that Nigeria’s cosmetic safety systems were inadequate, given the industry’s rapid growth in the region. 

“The influx of substandard, adulterated, or improperly tested cosmetic products poses clear risks to consumer health and public safety. Our role as public analysts has never been more crucial,” IPAN registrar and CEO Aliyu Abdullah Angara states.

While Nigeria’s cosmetics regulatory framework involves several agencies working together, experts have highlighted the challenges posed by a fragmented system with overlapping mandates. This fragmentation inhibits oversight and creates exploitable loopholes in the system. An overarching body of policies and policy enforcers that can maintain an overview reduces the risk of oversight.