There is a question that should make Nigeria's drug and cosmetics regulator uncomfortable:
How can a globally popular sunscreen brand that says it is not officially available in Nigeria be so readily available to Nigerians—and where is NAFDAC?
Bioré UV is not an obscure skincare product.
It is one of the world's best-known sunscreen lines, manufactured by Kao Corporation of Japan. Kao describes Bioré as a global skincare brand available across 66 countries and regions. In March 2026, the Japanese company announced Bioré's expansion into South Korea and said its Bioré UV campaign would run across more than 15 markets where the product is available.
Yet Nigerian consumers can walk onto major online marketplaces and find Bioré UV products being advertised, priced in naira and sold to Nigerian customers.
Jumia Nigeria currently lists numerous Bioré UV products, including Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50, with one listing showing 391 verified ratings.
That is not a handful of bottles in someone's suitcase.
It is a functioning commercial market.
And that raises a far more important question than whether Bioré UV is a good sunscreen:
Who is regulating what Nigerians are putting on their skin?
First, Bioré is Japanese—not American
Before going further, the facts matter.
Bioré is not an American company.
It belongs to Kao Corporation, a Japanese multinational headquartered in Tokyo. Kao explicitly describes itself as a Japan-based manufacturer of cosmetics, personal-care and household products and identifies Bioré as one of its brands.
That distinction is important because the real story does not require falsely portraying Bioré as an American company.
In fact, the Japanese connection makes the story more interesting.
Bioré is a sophisticated global brand with established regulatory markets around the world.
So if products bearing its name are entering Nigeria outside a clearly identifiable official distribution and registration system, Nigeria's regulatory system—not the nationality of the manufacturer—is what deserves scrutiny.
The Nigerian Bioré market exists
The first thing that jumps out from an online investigation is the sheer availability of Bioré UV in Nigeria.
Jumia Nigeria's Bioré brand page lists multiple Bioré UV products, including:
- UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50;
- two-piece packs;
- 50ml and 70ml versions;
- Bioré UV Aqua Rich products described as SPF 50+;
- cartons containing 24 units.
Some listings show hundreds of customer ratings.
One Jumia listing for Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence currently shows 391 verified ratings and describes the product as SPF 50+ PA++++.
Another listing is explicitly marketed as “Biore UV Aqua rich Watery Essence SPF50+ PA++++.”
This is important because it demonstrates that Bioré UV is not merely something Nigerians occasionally import for personal use.
It is being presented to Nigerian consumers as a retail product.
And that is where NAFDAC's responsibility begins to matter.
NAFDAC's own rules are clear
Nigeria's regulatory framework does not say:
"If a cosmetic is famous internationally, Nigerians can buy it."
It says something much stricter.
NAFDAC's published guidelines state that no cosmetics should be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold or distributed in Nigeria unless they have been registered in accordance with Nigerian law.
The agency's current regulatory framework also classifies sun care as a category of cosmetic products.
The 2023 Cosmetics Products Registration Regulations state that a cosmetic product must not be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold, distributed or used in Nigeria unless it has been registered, subject to limited exceptions such as permitted samples.
That is a crucial point.
The argument is not that a Japanese sunscreen needs to be approved by America.
The argument is that a cosmetic being commercially sold in Nigeria is subject to Nigerian regulation.
So where is the NAFDAC number?
This is where the Nigerian consumer is entitled to demand answers.
NAFDAC operates the NAPAMS platform, which provides a product-verification function using a NAFDAC number.
The agency also has its iRIMS regulatory portal for product registration and verification.
That should make the process simple:
Product.
NAFDAC number.
Verification.
Legal status.
But when Nigerians encounter Bioré UV online, the obvious question is:
Where is the verifiable Nigerian registration number for the specific product being sold?
And this is where the story needs proper investigation rather than social-media assumptions.
A missing NAFDAC number on an online product listing does not by itself prove that the product is unregistered.
But when a foreign cosmetic is being commercially distributed at scale, the regulator should be able to identify:
- the Nigerian registration;
- the registration holder;
- the importer;
- the approved product variant;
- the approved manufacturing site;
- the authorized distribution channel.
If those things cannot be established, NAFDAC has a regulatory problem.
The strange case of Ubuy
The situation becomes even more revealing when looking at Ubuy Nigeria.
Ubuy lists a Bioré UV Aqua Rich product but describes it as “not available locally” and says the item is imported from the United States. It also warns customers that imported products may not conform to the destination country's standards, specifications or labeling requirements and says the recipient is responsible for ensuring that the product can lawfully be imported.
That raises an obvious question.
If an international platform is openly treating the product as an imported item rather than a locally available product, how do the Bioré products appearing through Nigerian retail channels get into the Nigerian commercial supply chain?
There could be legitimate explanations.
They could be parallel imports.
They could be products imported by third-party distributors.
They could be products brought in under an applicable import arrangement.
Or some could simply be unauthorized.
That is exactly what a regulator should establish.
This is where NAFDAC's silence becomes the story
NAFDAC's statutory responsibilities are not vague.
The NAFDAC Act gives the agency powers to inspect imported cosmetics, establish quality-assurance systems, register cosmetics and develop standards and guidelines for their importation, sale and distribution.
Its own mission is to ensure that only appropriate-quality regulated products are imported, distributed, sold and used in Nigeria.
So if Bioré UV products are being sold commercially across Nigerian platforms, there should be an answer.
Not necessarily an accusation.
An answer.
Are they registered?
If yes:
Which products? Under whose registration?
If no:
Why are they being sold?
And if NAFDAC has not investigated:
Why not?
This is not the first time NAFDAC has dealt with unregistered cosmetics
The agency has demonstrated that it is capable of issuing alerts about unregistered cosmetics.
In June 2025, NAFDAC published an alert concerning unregistered Fair Child Soap circulating in Nigerian markets. The agency also publishes alerts concerning counterfeit, falsified and unsafe regulated products.
That means there is an established mechanism for identifying and warning Nigerians about unregistered products.
So the question is not whether NAFDAC has the authority to act.
It does.
The question is whether it is applying that authority effectively to Nigeria's rapidly expanding online cosmetics market.
The internet has created a regulatory blind spot
This may be the bigger problem.
Nigeria's beauty market has moved online faster than regulatory enforcement.
A seller can advertise a sunscreen on Instagram.
Another can put it on Jumia.
Another can sell it through a personal website.
Another can import it from abroad.
Another can sell it through WhatsApp.
The consumer sees the same brand name and assumes everything is legitimate.
But the regulator sees a much more complicated supply chain.
And this is where NAFDAC needs to modernize its enforcement.
Its own Greenbook reporting system acknowledges online stores as potential sources of suspect products and allows reports to be categorized as “Unregistered.”
That is encouraging.
But the existence of a reporting form is not the same thing as proactive enforcement.
The regulator should not have to wait for Nigerian consumers to discover potentially unregistered products.
It should be monitoring the market.
The danger is not simply whether Bioré is genuine
There is another misconception that needs to be challenged.
Suppose the Bioré UV bottle is genuine.
That still does not automatically answer the Nigerian regulatory question.
A genuine product can still be:
- imported without the required authorization;
- intended for another market;
- packaged under different regulatory standards;
- sold without an authorized Nigerian importer;
- stored improperly;
- past its appropriate shelf life;
- or distributed outside the manufacturer's authorized supply chain.
So the debate should not become:
“Bioré is a good brand, therefore it is safe.”
That is not how regulation works.
And sunscreen is not just another beauty product
This is particularly important because sunscreen is a product consumers purchase specifically because they trust its stated level of protection.
If a product claims SPF 50+ and PA++++, the consumer is relying on those claims.
If the product is counterfeit, degraded, incorrectly formulated or improperly stored, the consumer may believe their skin is protected when it is not.
The potential harm is therefore not merely cosmetic.
It concerns whether consumers are receiving the protection they paid for.
That makes regulatory verification important.
The "FDA-approved" language is also misleading
There is another problem with the way this controversy is being discussed online.
Some posts describe Bioré UV as not being “FDA-approved for human use.”
That terminology is misleading in the Nigerian context.
Nigeria has its own regulator:
NAFDAC.
The relevant question is not whether the United States FDA approved a particular Bioré sunscreen.
The relevant question is:
Has the specific product been properly registered and authorized for the Nigerian market under Nigerian regulatory requirements?
A product can be legal in Japan and another country while still requiring Nigerian registration before commercial sale in Nigeria.
That is precisely why national regulatory systems exist.
If Bioré isn't officially selling it, who is?
This may be the most important question in the entire investigation.
Imagine a Nigerian consumer walks into an online marketplace and buys Bioré UV.
Who is the Nigerian importer?
Who brought it into the country?
Who is responsible for the product?
Who holds the NAFDAC registration?
Who guarantees that the product being sold is the same formulation that the manufacturer authorized?
Who handles a recall if there is a safety problem?
Who does the consumer contact if they suffer an adverse reaction?
And who does NAFDAC hold accountable?
If the answers cannot be easily established, Nigeria has a consumer-protection problem.
NAFDAC should investigate the marketplaces, not just the bottles
A serious regulatory response would involve more than grabbing one bottle from a shop.
NAFDAC should trace the supply chain.
It should identify major Bioré UV listings across Nigerian marketplaces.
Then it should determine:
Which seller is responsible?
Where did the stock come from?
What import documentation exists?
Is there a NAFDAC registration?
Does the registration correspond to that exact formulation and packaging?
Is the importer authorized?
Are the products genuine?
Do the products meet the applicable Nigerian requirements?
And if they do not:
Why are they still available for sale?
The online platforms also have questions to answer
NAFDAC should not carry the entire burden.
Large e-commerce platforms have enormous visibility into what Nigerians are buying.
If a marketplace can verify sellers, process payments, monitor customer reviews and track deliveries, it should also be possible to create mechanisms for regulated cosmetics.
A seller offering a regulated cosmetic should be required to provide the relevant regulatory information.
And where a product is legally required to be registered, platforms should not allow sellers to simply operate indefinitely without verification.
Otherwise, the internet becomes a parallel marketplace outside the regulatory system.
Bioré should answer too
The manufacturer also has a legitimate interest in this investigation.
Kao knows which countries Bioré UV is officially marketed in.
It knows its authorized distributors.
It knows which packaging and formulations belong to which markets.
It can therefore help Nigerian consumers distinguish between:
official distribution,
parallel imports,
unauthorized products,
and counterfeits.
If Bioré does not officially operate in Nigeria, Nigerians deserve clear guidance from the company about how to identify legitimate products and where they can safely obtain them.
The real scandal would not be Bioré
It would be the regulatory vacuum.
Bioré UV is only one brand.
Today it is Bioré.
Tomorrow it could be another global skincare product.
The same supply-chain problem can affect cosmetics, supplements, medical devices and other regulated products.
Nigeria cannot have a system in which a product is theoretically regulated but practically available everywhere.
That creates regulation on paper and deregulation in practice.
Nigeria needs to stop discovering regulatory failures through social media
This is perhaps the most important lesson.
A consumer should not have to post a viral TikTok before the regulator notices that a product is circulating.
A journalist should not have to search Jumia before asking where the product came from.
A customer should not have to become a forensic investigator to determine whether the sunscreen on their face is legally authorized.
NAFDAC has the mandate.
It has the registration system.
It has inspection powers.
It has product-verification infrastructure.
It has an alert system.
It even has a reporting mechanism that recognizes online stores as sources of suspect products.
What Nigeria needs is visible enforcement.
The question NAFDAC must answer
So this is not simply a story about whether Nigerians love Bioré UV.
They clearly do.
The real story is this:
How can a globally popular foreign sunscreen be so widely available in Nigeria while the regulatory status of the specific products and their supply chain remains unclear to the public?
If the products are registered, NAFDAC should say so.
If only certain variants are registered, NAFDAC should identify them.
If the products are unregistered, the agency should explain why they are being sold openly and take appropriate enforcement action.
If they are legitimate parallel imports under an approved arrangement, the agency should explain the regulatory basis.
And if counterfeit products are involved, Nigerians deserve an immediate warning.
Because the Nigerian consumer should not have to choose between trusting a famous foreign brand and trusting a regulator that has not explained what is happening.
Bioré may be Japanese.
The products may be genuine.
The sellers may have legitimate explanations.
But none of those possibilities eliminates the central question.
Where is NAFDAC?
Nigeria has a regulator specifically created to make sure regulated products entering the country are safe, properly registered and legally sold.
If Bioré UV is circulating through Nigeria's commercial market without a clear regulatory trail, the failure is no longer just a skincare story.
It is a test of whether Nigeria actually controls what enters its own consumer market.
And Nigerians deserve an answer before the next bottle reaches their skin.
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