BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim:
African Democratic Congress (ADC) Vice-Presidential candidate Rotimi Amaechi claimed that Nigeria spent ₦200 billion importing drugs in the third quarter of 2026, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Verdict
Unverified
Full Text:
African Democratic Congress (ADC) Vice-Presidential candidate Rotimi Amaechi claimed that Nigeria spent ₦200 billion importing drugs in the third quarter of 2026, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Amaechi made the claim on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he criticised the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and discussed the difficulties Nigerians face in meeting basic needs, including healthcare costs.
During the interview, Amaechi linked his concerns about access to healthcare and medicines to the death of his mother. He said she had been healthy before Tinubu came into office and that he was unable to obtain the drugs she needed. He also linked the broader difficulties facing Nigerians to the removal of fuel subsidies, arguing that the policy had contributed to increases in transportation and food costs.
Amaechi also defended the ADC’s proposal to introduce a production subsidy rather than return to the former consumer fuel subsidy regime arguing that the measure would reduce fuel and, consequently, transportation and food costs.
It was in this broader discussion about the cost of living and access to essential goods that Amaechi cited NBS data, claiming that Nigeria spent ₦200 billion on drug imports in the third quarter of 2026.
FactCheckAfrica seeks to verify whether NBS data supports Amaechi’s claim about Nigeria’s expenditure on drug imports in the third quarter of 2026.
Verification:
To verify the claim, FactCheckAfrica reviewed the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics and other relevant NBS publications.
Amaechi made the claim on October 2, 2026, when he said that “last quarter” Nigeria spent ₦200 billion importing drugs. Since the statement was made in the fourth quarter of 2026, “last quarter” ordinarily refers to the third quarter, covering July 1 to September 30, 2026.
However, FactCheckAfrica found that the NBS Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics currently available does not include a Q3 2026 report at the time of this verification. The latest quarterly report available from the Bureau is for Q2 2026, covering April to June 2026. NBS’s Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics are released quarterly, with the full merchandise breakdown published after the end of each reporting period.
The available Q2 2026 data showed that Nigeria recorded total imports of ₦14.42 trillion during the quarter. The report recorded that Chemicals and related products accounted for ₦2.51 trillion of the import bill. It also recorded substantial imports of pharmaceutical products. For example, medicines imported from India were valued at ₦64.87 billion, while vaccines for human medicine were valued at ₦63.88 billion. Antimalarial medicines supplied by India alone were valued at ₦30.83 billion.
While these figures confirm that pharmaceutical products accounted for a significant portion of Nigeria’s imports in Q2 2026, they do not establish the ₦200 billion figure cited by Amaechi.
As the Q3 2026 Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics were not available at the time of verification, FactCheckAfrica could not independently confirm whether Nigeria spent ₦200 billion importing drugs during July to September 2026. FactCheckAfrica also could not establish the specific NBS dataset or commodity classification from which Amaechi derived the figure.
Conclusion:
The claim is unverified. While Amaechi attributed the ₦200 billion figure to NBS, the Bureau had not published its Q3 2026 Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics at the time of verification. Available Q2 data also do not substantiate the claimed figure.
