Scam alert: fake advert claims Nigeria's food and drug regulator Nafdac is hiring
IN SHORT: Several social media posts claim that Nigeria's food and drug control agency is hiring, but the agency says this is false.
In January 2026, Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control said it was understaffed.
Nafdac oversees food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals and packaged water in Nigeria.
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In that context, many Nigerians would be interested in a social media post that claims the agency is recruiting.
The document says applicants must be Nigerian, not work for a government agency and must have an international passport. It encourages interested users to send their resumes to "[email protected]".
The message can be found here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
Africa Check has debunked similar fake government recruitment ads. But is this one genuine?
Agency disowns document
A CV contains personal information, so sending it to unknown email addresses is risky. The posts assign a Gmail address to the regulator, which is a red flag.
Government agencies normally post job openings on their official websites and social media channels. However, Nafdac has no record of a recruitment exercise on its official social media accounts.
On 3 February, the agency warned that the ad was fake.
"NAFDAC has become aware of a fake press release circulating on social media that falsely claims the Agency has announced a recruitment exercise," the agency posted on X.
"NAFDAC wishes to state clearly that the purported press release did not originate from the Agency and is entirely false. While NAFDAC periodically conducts recruitment exercises to engage qualified Nigerians, no such announcement has been made at this time."
The agency has warned the public not to trust fake job adverts, which are meant to trick and exploit people.
Scammers in Nigeria often use fake job adverts to trick people, and this is one of them.
More posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.