How to verify a NAFDAC number online

What you need

Start with the pack in your hand. Find the NAFDAC registration number, often written as NRN. NAFDAC's drug labelling guidelines require space for it on the label. Copy it exactly, letters and hyphen included. Numbers named in NAFDAC alerts look like A4-4724 or 04-6433.

Write down four more details from the same pack: the product name, the strength (for example 500mg), the dosage form (tablet, syrup, cream, injection) and the manufacturer. You will compare these with the official record.

Option 1: the NAFDAC Greenbook

The NAFDAC Greenbook is NAFDAC's database of registered products. NAFDAC launched it in Lagos in January 2024. NAFDAC officials said a record shows the product name, strength, dosage form, manufacturer, the site where it is made and the NAFDAC number. It works in a phone browser and as the NAFDAC Greenbook app on the App Store and Google Play. The app also includes a list of manufacturers.

1. Open greenbook.nafdac.gov.ng in your phone browser, or install the NAFDAC Greenbook app.
2. Type the product name, the brand name or the NAFDAC registration number into the search.
3. Open the record that matches.
4. Compare the record with your pack: product name, strength, dosage form and manufacturer.

Searching by the number shows you which product NAFDAC issued that number to. Searching by the product name shows you which number that product should carry. Doing both catches more fakes. More on the database in the NAFDAC Greenbook guide.

Option 2: Verify Products on the NAFDAC registration portal

NAFDAC's registration portal is called NAPAMS, the NAFDAC Automated Product Administration and Monitoring System. Companies use it to register products, as described in how to get a NAFDAC registration number. Its home page also has a Verify Products section that anyone can use, with four options: Verify Your Product, Verify a Water Product, Verify a Veterinary Product and Verify a Food Product.

1. Go to registration.nafdac.gov.ng.
2. Scroll to Verify Products, or tap Verify Products in the menu.
3. Pick the option that fits your product: food, water, veterinary, or Verify Your Product for other products.
4. Enter the NAFDAC number and tap Verify.
5. Compare the record with your pack.

Dubawa, a Nigerian organisation that verifies public claims, used this portal to look up the numbers on two herbal bitters. The results named the product each number belonged to, the company, and the dates the licence was approved and expires.

Option 3: scratch codes on some medicines

Some antimalarial and antibiotic medicines carry a scratch panel. This is NAFDAC's Mobile Authentication Service (MAS). NAFDAC introduced it in 2010 against substandard and falsified medical products, and rolled it out in January 2012 to antimalarial and antibiotic medicines. It lets you verify a medicine with one text message.

1. Scratch the panel on the pack to show a one-time PIN.
2. Text the PIN to the MAS provider's short code. NAFDAC says the text is toll-free on any GSM network.
3. Read the reply. It tells you the product is genuine or a suspected fake.

NAFDAC lists five MAS providers, each with its own short code: PharmaSecure (38351), Sproxil (38353), Savanté (38120), UBQ-t/Kezzler (20966) and M-Pedigree (1393). MAS only works on packs that carry a scratch panel.

Some companies use other anti-counterfeiting methods on their packs. You can verify a product protected with Batach with your phone at batach.io/scan.

How to read the result

• The record matches your pack in every detail. The number was issued to this product. Look at the pack itself too: fakes can copy a real number.
• The record shows a different product. The number on your pack was taken from another product. In Public Alert No. 37/2025, falsified Betaclox carried a number that belongs to a mebendazole tablet.
• The record shows the same brand in another form or strength. NAFDAC found falsified Cikatem suspension carrying the number issued to Cikatem tablets.
• There is no record. The product may not be registered. It may also be registered but not yet listed: NAFDAC has said some companies have been slow to submit their product information to the Greenbook. Search by name, try the other tool, and call NAFDAC on 0700-1-623322 if you are still unsure.

Compare every detail, not just the number. A borrowed number is a real number. It returns a record, and that record names a different product.

For the patterns NAFDAC has found on fake packs, read how to know a fake NAFDAC number.

Verify the batch as well

A number tells you about the product. A NAFDAC alert tells you about a batch. NAFDAC lists falsified and substandard products on its recalls and alerts page, with the batch number, manufacturing date and expiry date of each affected batch.

Search the page for the product name on your pack. If an alert names your batch number, do not use the product. The NAFDAC Greenbook app also carries NAFDAC alerts and recalls of unsafe or substandard medicines, according to its App Store listing. More on reading these details in batch numbers and expiry dates.

If the number does not match

Do not use the product. Keep the pack and your receipt, and report it to NAFDAC:

• Call 0800-162-3322.
• Email [email protected].
• Visit the nearest NAFDAC office.
• Report online at nafdac.medsafety.io.
• Use the Report SF feature in the NAFDAC Greenbook app. SF stands for substandard and falsified.

If you already used the product and had a side effect, report it through the Med-safety app or by email to [email protected]. More on this in how to report fake products in Nigeria.