NAFDAC Shuts 16 Rivers Water Factories

​PORT HARCOURT – The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down 16 sachet water factories across four local government areas in Rivers State. The enforcement action follows shocking discoveries of extreme hygiene failures—including the use of household handkerchiefs as water filtration systems.

​The massive crackdown was revealed on Friday in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by NAFDAC’s South-South Zonal Director, Chukwuma Philip Oligbu. The statement, signed by the zone’s Public Relations Officer, Cyril Monye, disclosed that the targeted operations were executed to eliminate substandard and unregistered packaged water from circulating in local markets.

​Cross-Local Government Sweep

​The enforcement sweep targeted clandestine and non-compliant operations across four key local government areas: Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru, Degema, and Ikwerre.

​According to NAFDAC, the shuttered brands and factories include:

• ​Asari-Toru LGA: Obra Bo Table Water (Abalama).
• ​Degema LGA: Loilia Table Water (Okpo); Jima Table Water, Inye Table Water, Obuta Table Water, S.P. Nimi Table Water, and Soaltam Table Water (all located in Obuama Harry Town); Piasso Table Water (Usokun); and Imumsco Table Water (Port Harcourt–Degema Road).
• ​Akuku-Toru LGA: Granpa Table Water, Daa Ajuka Table Water, and Diob Table Water (all operating in Abonnema).
• ​Ikwerre LGA: Aqua-Tobson Table Water, Duco Table Water, Chisodek Table Water, and Neo Brain Table Water.

​Shocking Sanitary Violations

​”The sachet water factories were operating under poor hygienic conditions, dirty filters, use of handkerchief as filters, expired licences, labelling lapses, and wrong factory addresses,” Oligbu stated.

​The zonal director also issued a stern warning against setting up water manufacturing facilities inside filling stations, declaring it a direct violation of safety protocols. Any factory operating within such environments will face permanent closure.

​The regulatory agency has summoned all affected factory owners to its zonal office for interrogation and administrative processing.

​Hard Times Await Defaulters

​Oligbu warned water producers to immediately halt the distribution of unregistered products. He further directed manufacturers operating with expired documentation to initiate immediate renewal processes or risk swift legal penalties.

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​The agency also reminded stakeholders that obstructing NAFDAC officials from executing their statutory duties is a criminal offense under Nigerian law, warning that individuals who attempt to block enforcement operations will face immediate arrest and prosecution.

​With unwholesome production plants increasingly trying to evade regulatory oversight by moving into rural or semi-urban communities, Oligbu emphasized that NAFDAC’s surveillance apparatus blankets every corner of Rivers State.

​Members of the public are urged to actively report illegal or unsanitary manufacturing operations to the agency to prevent contaminated water from reaching the public.