The saying that for every original article, there is a counterfeit couldn’t be truer than in our dear country because counterfeiting is not a new thing to us. It has always been alive, living amongst us for ages.

Growing up, it wasn’t something one was really cognizant of because it was not very rampant, I guess. As a matter of fact, my awareness of counterfeiting started with the twisted names on sound systems back then when you would have Suny passing off as a Sony. And when video systems became popular, the likes of video dubbing boomed and designer outfits with suspicious logos flourished.

Counterfeit naira

Today however, it has progressed from the commonplace to really high tech operations, some grounded even on corporate espionage.

The bedrock of counterfeiting is not just in the value of the product  itself – whether tangible or intangible – because cheap inferior products get faked also. More critical to its subsistence is the existence of certain favorable conditions. First, the product must have demand – the higher the demand the better. Secondly, it must be short in supply and therefore not readily available.

A typical example of a product counterfeited everyday all over the world is love. Every person yearns for true love but because it is hard to find,  it opens the gateway for bad boys to hit and run; and girls, chop and run.

Fake hair, fake eyelashes, hips, cleavage, skin; some people even live fake lives. So in one way or another, we are all involved in the practice of counterfeiting (yours truly inclusive). I guess that is why we have a situation where people know someone making a living from faking products but instead of making them stop, choose to look the other way. Let him without sin be the first to throw the stone.

But after all is said and done, every form of counterfeiting still ranks as petty when compared to faking of drugs. Why would a person place material gain over the health and even life of fellow human being? Not caring for the anguish and pain their actions could cause families through the loss of loved ones and bread winners.

You may think if they are callous enough not to care for people they don’t know, surely they should care about their family members and people in their circle. But they don’t; if they did, they wouldn’t throw stones into the market place not knowing who it would hit.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was down with malaria and got drugs from a pharmacy; scratched and waited for authentication. The confirmation delayed over 24 hours before finally coming back as a fake. Assuming I took the fake drug and it not only aggravated the malaria, but also led to damage of some other vital organs.

Who could I hold responsible? Who would be liable for my injury? Could I sue the authentic manufacturer of the brand for allowing counterfeiting of their drug?  NAFDAC for not monitoring every drug store in the land? The police for not detecting the activities of the counterfeiters early enough to prevent the manufacture?

The CPC? Maybe the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria? Or the store owner who probably was equally hoodwinked into thinking it was the genuine article. The most plausible culprit is obviously the store owner. But from findings, the most you can get out of them is a pointer in the trail after the actual criminals; and sadly, the trail doesn’t lead very far unless you have the financial muscle to seriously facilitate the police and engage private detectives. In the rare occasions we hear a big fish has been caught, the cases somehow fizzle out after key officials may have been compromised.

So in a nutshell, average consumers like you and I, have no effective platform to seek redress. This sad reality should challenge us, the common people, to be our brother’s keepers. We should no longer look the other way when we see these wicked people at work. We must report our suspicions to the relevant authorities when we so much as suspect foul play. The CPC and NAFDAC I believe have platforms through which information can be passed anonymously. If we, the targets of these wicked people, fail to report, then we become just as guilty. If the relevant authorities fail to act or allow themselves to be compromised, their hands become bloody too. And if our lawmakers  fail to look critically into this menace and come up with adequate punitive measures, then they become partakers in the criminality as well.

If counterfeiting can be described as 419 of a different sort; then drug counterfeiting is equally murder of a different sort. Some people may argue that not all counterfeited drugs are harmful; some actually contain the relevant active components so it’s just like Suny and Sony; merely a name thing to push sales riding on the back of an already established brand. Whilst this could be true it still does not make it right.

If the relevant authorities are able to prove through laboratory tests that it is merely a name thing, then a light sentence is warranted. But for those who pass off chalk as medicine, I think the death penalty is justified, if only to serve as a deterrent. . If human life isn’t precious to them, they surely shouldn’t mind losing theirs.