…As over 2000 pharmacists hit Awka for 99th PSN Conference
Pharmacists have been charged to strive to ensure greater unity, stronger collaboration and professional accountability so as to tackle the circulation of fake and substandard medicines and strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare system.
This was the dominant call at the opening ceremony of the ongoing 99th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) on Tuesday in Awka, Anambra State. The Conference Planning Committee chairman, Pharm. Derrick Osondu told Pharmanewsonline on Tuesday that nearly 3000 pharmacists are already in Awka for the event and more pharmacists are still coming.
In their separate remarks, the speakers, including former Minister of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi; Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo; Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye; and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Bernard Doro, called for a united and coordinated approach to addressing challenges confronting the pharmaceutical profession and the nation’s healthcare delivery system.
The theme of the 99th conference tagged Ijele ’26, held at the International Convention Centre, Awka, is “One Health, One Pharmacy: Bridging Knowledge, Practice and Policy for National Impact”.
Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi, who is chairman of the College of Past Presidents of the PSN, said the profession could only achieve a profound and enduring impact on the nation if pharmacists embraced unity, teamwork and a shared commitment to addressing challenges confronting the profession.
“Teamwork is the foundation of success”, he said, adding that pharmacists must walk together more sincerely to build a profession that would be more respected, robust, reliable and recognised within and outside the healthcare sector.
Similarly, Prof. Soludo urged pharmacists to strengthen professional accountability and collaborate with the Anambra State Government in its efforts to position the state as Nigeria’s pharmaceutical hub.
The governor, who described Anambra as Nigeria’s pharmaceutical capital, said pharmacists had fundamental contributions to make to a productive and sustainable healthcare ecosystem.
He highlighted his administration’s investments in healthcare infrastructure, including the construction, renovation and upgrading of about 326 primary healthcare centres, the recruitment of more than 1,500 healthcare professionals and the establishment of a state quality assurance laboratory to ensure the safety and quality of medicines supplied to public health facilities.
He also disclosed that the state was developing a coordinated pharmaceutical wholesale centre, alongside plans for a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, to strengthen medicine distribution and local production.
However, Soludo challenged the PSN to look inward and address professional misconduct, particularly the practice of pharmacists lending their licences to individuals operating medicine outlets without their physical presence or professional supervision.
He said such practices undermined public confidence in the profession and made it difficult for regulatory authorities to effectively eliminate fake and substandard medicines.
He urged the PSN to strengthen its internal monitoring and disciplinary mechanisms, insisting that pharmacists who provide cover for illegal medicine businesses should also be held accountable.
“When NAFDAC raids any shop that we get one, we must also get the name and licence of the pharmacist who is covering the misconduct. We cannot just punish the dealer”, Prof. Soludo said.
The keynote speaker, Dr Doro emphasised the need for pharmacists to move beyond professional divisions and become more actively involved in national policy formulation, particularly in addressing medicine access, poverty and public health emergencies.
He said the theme of the conference reflected the need to integrate pharmaceutical knowledge, professional practice and government policy, warning that fragmentation within the profession and the wider healthcare system could undermine national development.
Commenting on the seeming division among pharmacists, Dr Doro said “Sometimes, we behave like separate villages sharing the same name. The industrialist does not talk to the hospital pharmacist. The academic writes papers the regulator never reads. The community pharmacist sees the problem first but nobody asks him”.
Dr Doro, who is also a pharmacist, argued that pharmacists must speak with one voice and ensure that their professional knowledge and evidence from daily practice inform government decisions.
The minister also called for the integration of pharmaceutical services into humanitarian interventions, particularly in displacement camps and underserved communities, where access to essential medicines and professional healthcare services remained critical.
He proposed five areas of collaboration between the PSN and his ministry, including establishing pharmaceutical care in humanitarian response programmes, using community pharmacies to strengthen disease surveillance, tackling antimicrobial resistance through collaboration with agricultural and veterinary stakeholders, linking local pharmaceutical manufacturing to employment and poverty reduction, and producing policy briefs to support evidence-based government decisions.
On antimicrobial resistance, Doro warned that the inappropriate use of antibiotics in farms, markets and healthcare facilities posed a serious threat to public health, stressing that the problem could not be addressed through hospital interventions alone.
Meanwhile, the NAFDAC DG, Prof. Adeyeye, reaffirmed NAFDAC’s commitment to strengthening regulatory collaboration with the pharmacy profession to protect Nigerians from unsafe medicines.
The DG who was ably represented by the Director of Narcotics and Controlled Substances, Dr Rametu Omamegbe Momodu said the agency remained committed to quality, safety and public health, noting that Nigeria had retained the World Health Organisation’s Maturity Level 3 status for the regulation of medicines and vaccines.
The NAFDAC boss called on pharmacists to take responsibility for safeguarding the medicine supply chain through responsible dispensing, patient counselling, antimicrobial stewardship and pharmacovigilance.
She warned that falsified and substandard medical products could cause treatment failure, antimicrobial resistance and death, insisting that their circulation must not be tolerated.
“Every pharmacist and, in fact, all Nigerians are called to be vigilant and guardians of the supply chain”, she said.
Prof. Adeyeye also called for stronger collaboration between NAFDAC and other relevant agencies and bodies on vaccine safety, antimicrobial stewardship, professional education and local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The 99th PSN conference, which commenced with a walk and welcome cocktail, on Monday, 2 November brought together pharmacists, pharmaceutical industry stakeholders, academics, policymakers and healthcare professionals including the past presidents of the society.
The conference will hit its climax on Friday with an annual general meeting, election of National secretary and closing banquet later in the night.
