Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great opportunities come to all but many do not know they have met them. The only preparation to take advantage of them is simple fidelity to what each day brings. – A. E. Dunning

Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them. Everyone must be challenged. A day dawns, quite like other days; in it a single hour comes, quite like other hours; but in that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces us. – Maltbie Davenport Babcock

Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.

Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. – Joshua J. Marine

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. – Bill Cosby

 The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. – Steve Jobs

The only thing that stands between you and your dream is the will to try and the belief that it is actually possible. – Joel Brown

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. – Carl Bard

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. –  Robert Louis Stevenson

 In this enlightening chat with Temitope Obayendo, Pharm. Alfred Imonite Kio, the superintendent pharmacist of Duwin Pharmaceutical & Chemical Company Ltd., Lagos,  reveals, among other valuable beauty tips, how constant use of sunscreen products and herbal cream formulations can delay the ageing process in humans. Excerpts:

What motivated Duwin Pharmaceutical to go into cosmetics production and circulation?

The connection of Duwin with cosmetic products is through her sister company named Edkeen Industries Ltd., which is into the manufacturing of Movate brand of cosmetic products, where I served as the general manager.

Edkeen went into cosmetics production to meet the needs of consumers for customised and better formulated products that impart beauty, nourishment and protection to the skin and hair of the users. The company is also capitalising on the positive reputation of the brand name Movate has acquired in ethical pharmaceuticals.

The world is rapidly going herbal in health-related matters. Are there some natural molecules that can enhance body beauty aside from artificial cream?

Well-formulated cosmetic products, when used by the consumer, ensureprotection of the skin, cleanliness, personal hygiene and nourishment to the body; thereby promoting the health of the individual.

Formulation of herbal creams in cosmetic products add useful enhancement to the beauty of the body. Examples are aloe vera gel, jojoba, shea butter, neem oil and even fruit acids like glycolic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, malic acid and tartaric acid. These natural molecules have different enhancement properties to the body of individuals. These properties are cleansing, lightening, moisturising, protecting, and so on.

As a stakeholder in the beauty and cosmetics industry, how effective is the anti-ageing and sunscreen claims of some creams?

Sunscreen products, from the name, are basically intended to prevent harshness of sunlight on the skin of individuals. It is well known that harsh sunlight can lead to sunburn, darkening of the skin, skin cancer and dermatitis. These symptoms are more common in the North, where the sun is harsher.

Use of sunscreen prevents these symptoms. Continuous use of sunscreen products prevents development of wrinkles and sagging skin and this property is referred to as anti-aging. Sunscreen agents, when used with skin lightening products, enhance lightening effect because of the sunscreen property.

It was once reported that deodorants have adverse effects on users. Is this true?

Deodorants are used to prevent body odour. They are mostly formulated with perfumes and anti-perspirants. Anti-perspirants have aluminum salts in their formulation. When applied to the skin, mostly the armpit, the aluminum moiety reacts with the electrolytes to form a gel. This gel blocks the sweat pores, thereby reducing perspiration or sweating. But aluminum salts are implicated in allergic reactions in some people and contact dermatitis in others.

So, which would you advise for use: perfumes or deodorants?

It is advisable to use perfumes or deodorants without aluminum salts.

What is your advice to dealers in the industry, as regards circulation of counterfeit products?

Counterfeit products, from the name, are never the same as the original products. There could be defects in formulation, production procedure, purity of raw materials, etc. Their use could be dangerous to the health of the consumers. For instance, use of substandard relaxers can burn or damage one’s hair and even burn the underlying skin. The general advice is that dealers should avoid counterfeit products. 

(By Pharm. Nelson Okwonna)

Science is the systematic study of natural phenomena; it often is intended to be for the purpose of improving the lot of humanity.

In the pharmaceutical Industry, science is that which we engage in to find better products and processes for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases.

It is a given that science should be done in a manner that assures sufficient profitability for all stakeholders in the venture. The aim of profitability is to encourage future engagement in the pursuit of such interesting matters.

On another plane, science is owned in a way by the individuals that have exerted or are responsible for the exertion of mental, physical and technological resources, in the quest of developing relevant solutions. We have established Intellectual Property laws and systems to ensure that these individuals are sufficiently rewarded for their ownership.

The philosophy of science is, therefore, a theoretical evaluation of the principles by which individuals engage in these beautiful process; it deals with how we  decide on what to study, how to study and how to ensure that the products emanating from our quest are actually useful to humanity and in such manner that humanity will appreciate our efforts.

This last bit on “appreciation” may not be apparent to everyone; however, it is at the heart of modern day science. Also, the need for utility (or usefulness) of the products of research efforts may not be apparent to everyone either. Notwithstanding, to the individual or entity responsible for the cost of engaging in scientific enterprise, a certain degree of reward is expected – not necessarily monetary, but a reward nonetheless.

On a macro level, science and the organisation of science have greatly changed our world and have created the world economies. The productivity of every nation is directly proportional to the effectiveness and efficiency of its science and the management of same. Sensible governments therefore take their sciences seriously; they know that much more than volume, management and effectiveness are essential. Hence, on a macro level, the philosophy of science would deal with the attitude required to lead science and development efforts.

In a recent debate at the British House of Commons, Prime Minister, David Cameron, was quizzed by the leader of the opposition party on the preparedness of his cabinet to mitigate the effects of the planned takeover of AstraZeneca by Pfizer on British jobs and science. In a heated response, Mr. Cameron stressed the country’s past and continued policy of engaging the drug makers to ensure that British science, technology and jobs are adequately protected. Both leaders understood the critical relationship between the ownership of their science and the economic fate of their nation.

On a micro level, the philosophy of science seeks to evaluate the mannerisms of the individual engaged in scientific processes – their vision of reality and its dynamism, as well as their procedure for making inferences from observed phenomena.

This article however seeks to look more at the macro level – on the leadership of science.

The management of innovation

The pharmaceutical industry is changing on a global scale. We are seeing and will definitely see more mergers and acquisitions, as global brands seek to increase the profitability of their firms. This may not lead to an improvement in health but is essentially more for the benefits of shareholders. These changes are caused by the declining results from research and development investments (an issue that a study of the philosophy of science evaluates at a micro level), leading to fewer blockbusters; and as patents expire, it is not surprising that companies are shifting grounds.

Also, with the increasing shift towards generics prescribing in the wake of broader national health insurance coverage and declining government expenditures on health, there are more reasons for concern. For us in developing economies, the point to note is that, as global brands consolidate, the next thing from a business point of view will be for them to build structures that will help harness the best of the market that exists here. We already have significant Asian presence; but we will see more in the near future. There is great need, therefore, if we could borrow from Prime Minister Cameron’s concerns, to engage every party that seeks to do business in Nigeria in such a manner that will help us in the long run.

The dynamics of a global economy portend that developing countries like Nigeria with little or insufficient manufacturing capacity and poor physical infrastructure will have a non-competitive business economy, except their governments could adopt policies that will considerably insulate their economies from global shockwaves. This will require a lot of skilful manoeuvring and bargaining and for the leaders of their sciences to focus their efforts on maximising their few competitive advantages.

For Nigeria, the growing market size, GDP and availability of potential raw materials comprise our major competitive factors. The essential feature of the leadership of science for us is to provide the motivation for science. In other words, it is only by protecting our market and delineating the most profitable paths for our research endeavours and promoting sufficient engagement can we be said to be really poised to providing sustainable research and development (R&D) leadership.

In this light, the effort to sanitise our drug distributorship network is not a matter of personal preference; it is a necessity for survival, without which any little decrease in the GDP of our nation will simply make our indigenous firms to disappear. This disappearance has happened before and it is for the simple reason that most of our local manufacturing facilities were not competitive and operated in an unprotected environment. Protective government policy, therefore, is not a gift but a necessity for survival.

Beyond survival

To lead science in a global economy, we will need to look beyond survival, as protective government policies may not be relied upon for a lifetime. We should desire to fly, as it is only in such flight that our future will be most secure.

To achieve flight in this age, there is the need to look to our science to help us devise structures that provide a certain level of synergistic efficiency. By this, I refer to technological clusters that allow for the availability of the principal elements for entrepreneurship within a particular geographical setting.

Like most big cities, the city of Lagos, for example, provides an illustration of what clusters offer. The sheer volume of human beings, certain level of infrastructure, and regulatory and financial organisations provide the pool, comprising the market, finance, human and technological resources required for productivity to happen, and at a relatively cheaper rate.

R&D/manufacturing clusters seek to create similar efficiencies for certain industries. For them to happen effectively, sufficient science is required to delineate the modus operandi; management will and muscle must be exerted and government commitment must not only be heard but also seen. Hence, there willbe the need to achieve a meeting of minds; in other words, leadership must happen and for sufficient duration.

The challenge with the nature of leadership required is that the sheer magnitude of skills required to achieve the thoughts enumerated here are hardly domiciled in any particular individual, and even when they are, there are obvious limits on the rate and efficiency of deployment; hence it is not a leader that must emerge but, rather, leading teams.

For the pharmaceutical Industry, these teams would need to combine market skills with research skills and sufficient influence with the government, not to mention that some folks must come along with bags full of money!

Another important challenge is that for individuals with the skill and dexterity required to lead science in our age, their competences are already enough to achieve survival and a bit more. If this article is effective, it will be that it has helped someone decide for somewhere beyond survival.

If we think about it on a micro level, survival was never the goal of science; Adam did not have to worry himself contemplating why ripe bananas turn yellow before he could eat them. However, we will always thank God for those Adams who ask those important; “beyond-survival” questions.

Have you ever wondered why there are such marked physical differences in the various classes of humanity? In some persons we see diseased and distorted figures, and in others we see fine and perfect personifications of radiant health? It depends so much on their thinking and eating.

Most people are only hanging on to life; they are not able to work magic. But you, as a magician, must know just how to be radiantly fit and mentally alert. As a magician, you must know how best to keep fit, and how to extend your life and live a long, long time. All the magic in the world that you may work for yourself is of little value unless you are radiantly fit and able to live a long time to enjoy it.  If you are beginning to make wonderful demonstrations (and you should be doing so by now), then you need glorious health to enjoy the fruits of your success.

By eating the right foods you will be able to say, “Gone are the aches and pains, the feelings of fatigue, the deadly lassitude that kills.” You will no longer turn over in bed in the morning to sleep a while longer. You will be up with the lark, singing, glad to be alive.

You will not be touchy and irritable any more. You will never know what it is to be exhausted. This is the perfect existence. Life for you will be grand.  “The wind’s on the health, brother; who would wish to die?” That’s how you will feel when you are well.  Your swimming pool, your Rolls-Royce, your yacht, your palatial home, your dreams that have come true through the magic in your mind, what use are they if you are sick and tired? How can you enjoy your new-found treasures, if you are old and weak?

Youth! Eternal youth! That’s what you want. Bronzed and beautiful and everlasting. Are you losing your youth? How are you losing it? And why? Left too long, youth can never be recovered. If you are not as young as you used to be when life was fun, if you are fully conscious that you are getting older, and begin to feel as one does during the last dance of a ball, tired but keen, then decide right now to do something about it.

You can remain young in spirit and fit in body until well over a hundred. Many people do. It is not just a matter of your attitude to life and thinking the right thoughts, but it’s a matter of what you eat. There are foods which help enormously towards giving you the power to work magic. And there are foods which gradually numb the mind, like slow poison, so that you can never, never have that power.

Let magic play a vital and fuller part in your health plan. As a magician, you have the power to bring health and beauty to the highest standard that the world has ever known, and a real tranquility to your mind.

So let us consider food, and what we eat often.

·      Bread

Bread, they say, is the staff of life. What sort of bread? Brown or white? This argument has been going on officially since Nero put the Romans on a diet of bread. Nero and his Court liked it white. Is there any difference between brown bread and white, as regards food value, sufficient that it matters?

I think so. A lady said to me the other day, “My son and daughter have each collected some tadpoles to observe their metamorphosis into frogs. My son put some white bread crumbs in his bowl for them to eat; my daughter put brown bread crumbs into her bowl. The next day, all my son’s tadpoles were dead, but my daughter’s are still thriving.”

You like white bread and you eat quantities of it. White bread is treated to maintain its colour, but the agent used may be slowly doing to you as a white-bread eater what it rapidly did to the more fragile tadpoles.  Don’t you agree? Maybe it is slowly killing that “something” in your mind that works magic.  That precious “something.”  I don’t say it is, but I think there is a strong possibility.

Brown whole-wheat bread is the best, because the wheat germ and the outer coating of the wheat contain most of the vitamins and minerals we need, whereas white-bread bakers remove the essential ingredients before selling to other firms, or as animal feeding. They can make a little money on the side, so to speak.

Do we lose anything from our diet by eating white bread instead of brown whole-wheat? “Of course we do,” says Mr C. Donald Wilson, member of the Soil Association. “The millers take out 30 per cent of the nutrition in wheat.” Like this, even if they put a little bit of it back, essential vitamins are lost from our diet.

When you start adding chemicals to food and adulterating natural food, harm and ill-health are bound to result. Why do the Indians, the Africans, the Hunzas, enjoy such perfect health? Because they eat pure food grown on natural soil. To bring out the magic in your mind, you must give thought to these things.

Culled from BRING OUT THE MAGIC IN YOUR MIND by AL KORAN

(By Adebayo Oladejo)

The recent induction and oath-taking ceremony of 141 Pharmacy graduates of the University of Lagos took a more glamorous and celebratory dimension, as it was announced that a total of eight students who graduated with distinction were all females.

Chairperson of the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPs), Lagos State Chapter, Pharm. Modupe Ologunagba, and other members of the association present at the induction beamed with delight at the disclosure.

While speaking with pressmen, Pharm. Ologunagba said she was even more delighted that over 50 percent of the graduands were females.

“The fact that over 50 percent of the graduands today are ladies is a thing of pride to the association…This is a good development for the pharmacy profession because females are more stable in their careers and if we go back to history, Pharmacy actually started with the women; so it’s like bringing back history to reality.”

She seized the occasion to advise the female graduands not to abandon the practice of Pharmacy, assuring them that ALPs has a very strong platform for them to excel in whatever area of the profession they wished to pursue.

The ALPs boss further revealed to the graduating students that the scarves bearing the name and logo of the association, which were shared to them, was a symbol of their acceptance into the association.

“The scarf is an innovation and we are doing this in order to motivate and mobilise our membership, and now that we have realised that majority of the graduands are females, we want them to start having a sense of belonging from today, so that they can contribute positively to the vision of the association.”

Reacting to the warm gestures of ALPs, one of the female graduands, Fasanmade Abiola Odunayo, who was clearly overjoyed, said she was happy to be part of the ceremony, adding that she was prepared for the challenges ahead because she had been taught a lot of things that she needed to know, in order to cope in the real world.

“I am going to practice Pharmacy and nothing will take me away from Pharmacy,” she enthused.

On her opinion of ALPs, Odunayo said, “I am already a member because they have given us forms to fill and we have done every necessary thing to become part of them and I can’t wait to join them.”

 (Adebayo  Folorunsho-Francis)

 In this interview with Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis, Chairman of Mastoofy Supermarket & Electronics Ltd, Pharm. (Deacon) Adebowale Robert Tade, expresses weighty views on the different areas of pharmacy practice in Nigeria and why he thinks pharmacists in the country are not respected or appreciated enough.Exerpts:

Tell us a little about yourself

For someone who believes in both paternal and maternal sides, I always claim to hail from two states in Nigeria – Ijagbo community in Kwara and Ikogosi in Ekiti.

I was born on 16 February and presently nosing 70 years. I went to Baptist Boys’ High School, Abeokuta (a school whose motto is “nulli secondus” – second to none – and has produced a head of state, top academicians, erudite jurists, business moguls, top company executives for this nation and myself). I graduated from the School of Pharmacy, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, where I attended from 1965 to1970.

I have travelled extensively across the globe for general and senior management studies, courses in financial management/accounting studies and strategic planning skills. I had my internship in one of the busiest children hospitals in Africa, Massey Street Hospital, Lagos. After working there for a while, I made up my mind to quit hospital pharmacy because there was no respect for the pharmacy profession in hospital pharmacy practice.

Why did you say that?

I will come to that later. It is not something I want say at the beginning of this interview.

Tell us about your work experience then         

I first worked with Burroughs Wellcome. I was one of those who first launched Septrin, Actifed, Neosporins and some others. I later moved up north and worked with Beecham. At a point, I wasn’t satisfied with the state of things at the company because I was the only sales representative covering the most of the then northern states up to Lake Chad. I was always busy travelling from one end to the other. Eventually I got fed up. One day, I was forced to ask myself what I was doing in the Chad area. I left the company and returned to the south where I got an appointment with Pfizer in 1973 as medical representative.

I got promoted as the ethical product manager in 1975, after some very competitive on-the-job tests and interviews. Thanks to Pharm. Douglas Egbuonu for his forthrightness and the Late Pharm. Dr Fred Adenika for his thoroughness and leadership. Detribalised Nigerians they were.

How did you feel about your promotion?

I can only thank God for His grace because, shortly after that, I moved in quick succession from product manager in 1976 to marketing manager in1978 and head of the pharmaceutical division as division manager in 1981.

By dint of hard work, I worked my way up to becoming Pfizer’s deputy managing director in 1985, the first Nigerian pharmacist to be so appointed and also elected to the Board of Directors of the company. It was a long wait but I enjoyed it anyway to the glory of God. Pfizer businesses registered astronomical growth in income and competitive edge in the short and medium term after my historic elevations.

Again, because of politics in the workplace, coupled with subterranean manoeuvres, I was moved to the then ailing Animal Health division of Pfizer to grow the business under the notion that I was an excellent turnaround management expert. I was named the country manager of Pfizer’s Animal Health Business, which included Livestock Feeds Plc.and veterinary pharmaceutical business. Pfizer divested its businesses in Nigeria later between1996 and 1997 and I became the chairman and managing director of Livestock Feeds Plc.

Following the divestment, Pfizer needed a seasoned manager for its 100 per cent-owned Pfizer Specialties Ltd., a company which operates in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. I was recalled by Pfizer New York headquarters and was named country manager, chairman and managing director. I was very active in all the regions. I launched some new Pfizer ethical products, including Viagra and Norvasc, and also posted unprecedented profits in all of the regions. I was at the helm of affairs for seven years and retired thereafter in 2005 in excellent health. Glory to God Almighty.

I thank God that I am still standing, long after my retirement. Now, I have dedicated my full time to doing God’s work and assisting in the running of Mastoofy Limited, a company my wife established after her earlier retirement in 1998.

In retrospect, can you confidently say studying Pharmacy was a good decision?

I will say that it was a good decision. After all, I achieved my set objectives of becoming a pharmacist and made my mark in the industry. I was also fortunate to have led the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world in terms of research and development, high volume sales and relatively high bottom-line figures over years.

What was the profession like in your day compared to today’s practice?

Depending on where you place yourself. In my day, the respect was really not there. But today, it is even worse, which is why I mentioned earlier that it depends on where you place yourself, your personal profile and the angle you are looking at it from. Do you respect yourself? Fine. The public will respect you likewise.

Tell us more about controversies surrounding the practice during your time

(Laughs) This also depends on the arm of pharmacy practice you are referring to. If it is industrial pharmacy, respect was there; it is still there and will still be there. In the industry, people like me competed with other professionals. It is a multi-disciplinary sector. Even as a pharmacist and deputy managing director also in charge of Pfizer Animal Health, I was privileged to head the animal feed section. In spite of my not being a veterinary doctor or an animal health specialist, I had veterinary surgeons who reported to me daily. That was born out of the profound respect they had for me. In me, they saw an innovative management guru, and an informed leader.

As general manager of Pfizer and, later, as chairman/managing director, I had finance directors, veterinarians, medical doctors, human resources directors and manufacturing plant directors who actively reported to me over the years. All of these people are candidates for the top job in the pharmaceutical industry and the best is usually given the top job. So, it is a competitive arena and you just must be proven to be ahead of them in all parameters of business and management of people and financial resources.

I thank God that Pfizer exposed me to relevant postgraduate general management and financial courses, some of which were done at Columbia University and Turfs University in the USA. I also thank God that I was trainable and progressively justified the rationale for my wide exposures to worldwide seminars and interaction.

Does that mean you never had any controversial issue at the industrial pharmacy level?

I cannot really say the challenges I encountered can be called controversy per se. But you have to prove your mettle still, especially when you have diverse people reporting to you all the time.

To me, Pfizer remains the biggest pharmaceutical giant to date. Whoever works in the company must be adequately equipped to do the job well. If, in the process of training, you don’t perform well, they will drop you. Unlike some pharmaceutical companies where you could present unproven reports, in Pfizer, operating results emanating from you must be robust and in line with the company’s short to medium business plan.

For our annual budget, I was in charge and, honestly, an annual budget document was about 200 pages,A4, single space, in narratives and data, all supported by research and encompassing secondary/desk research and primary/in-depth interviews. New products launch plans were rooted in so many surveys, requisite research work, collating etc. All of these ordinarily were veritable documents/thesis which qualified for PhD awards (laughs).  Many of our budget documents, new products lunch plans were references for future managers to develop their skills and excel in our competitive business operations environment.

What about controversies at hospital, academic and community pharmacy levels?

Yes, I agree there were problems in hospital pharmacy. Now we have the directorate of pharmacy which wasn’t there before. But before this could be achieved, it was “battle royale”. Quite some intrigues there.

In the area of academic pharmacy, there were some things missing in the past that have now been addressed. At least, we now have deans heading various pharmacy faculties. This was missing in the past. We thank God for the elders and forerunners who fought gallantly to have them in place. That was another battle.

But when it comes to hospital pharmacy, the kind of intrigues going on there is quite disturbing.

Maybe you can tell us why you had to quit hospital practice

I told you I would come back to that. Well, when it comes to health institutions, especially at the Massey Street Hospital where I worked, we resumed as early as 8.00am, counted tablets at the counter, prepared mixtures, made some emulsions and read/interpreted prescriptions and dispensed as necessary.

I remember I once queried the hospital specialist’s prescription. He was furious but I stood my ground because my training was instructive that he was wrong. Thank God, my superintendent pharmacist had to agree with me, albeit reluctantly.

We rarely prepared emulsions. You see, when I left pharmacy school, I was of the opinion that we would have a small production unit to work from. Definitely not what I encountered! There was no desired respect for us (pharmacists) because our scope of operation was limited. Patients’ counselling on use of medicines, ward-round checks on prescriptions were not allowed or readily tolerated in the system. That was why I made up my mind to quit. I was wasting away at the hospital.

Do you mean the general public don’t accord pharmacist due respect too?

They don’t even have an idea of what we do. Doctors, surprisingly, also pretend not to understand what pharmacists could do, or are trained to do. That is why you hear them at times asking, “What do pharmacists do?”

Do you know that there are times we are compelled to query some of these doctors’ controversial prescriptions? But the public wouldn’t know this. Their concern is just to pick up whatever is prescribed for them. In truth, the average pharmacist is not putting up to 10 per cent of what he/she studied in pharmacy school into practice. In a serious society, the government would have addressed such issues. But here in Nigeria, our government is not encouraging pharmacists at all.

Are you aware that in Europe and in the USA, some drug labels and adverts carry inscriptions that patients should contact pharmacists or doctors for consultations as necessary? The understanding of roles of pharmacists and doctors is clear and well-understood in the civilised countries

What about pharmacists working in private hospitals?

Those ones are worse. The kind of scandals that go on in private hospitals are more serious. How many private hospitals have a standard pharmacy in place, with pharmacists in charge? Only a few. In some cases, what you see are bunch of untrained nurses and illiterate salespersons placed behind a counter to dish out drugs. It is an insult to the profession. It is a serious issue that I think the government should look into.

I don’t want to make it look like the PSN is not doing enough. But I believe most [erring] private hospitals in Nigeria should have been brought to book. Any private hospital without a pharmacist should be sanctioned. Just imagine all the professional charges they collect! In most cases the private hospitals inflate the prices of drugs. The content of hospital bills in private hospitals is lopsided, cost of medicines is about 50 per cent of total hospital bills, and no pharmacist is in the employment of the private hospital. What a shame!

You didn’t say anything about community pharmacists. Are you impressed with them?

(Laughs). If we have to address community pharmacy practice in detail, I will say it is quite enormous. But I will just mention a few. In our days, our headache used to be patent medicine dealers. But today, I have observed that the problems associated with community pharmacy are worse than before.

Tell me, how many pharmacists who retired from hospital, academic or industrial pharmacy practice can wholeheartedly say they are interested in setting up a community pharmacy? Not many. This is because they are aware of the problems with running such practice now. Too many quacks have taken over the profession.

Additionally, community pharmacy is a key service arm of pharmacy practice which many pharmacists desire to be involved in. But community pharmacy has currently been dominated and changed into family business in locations with relatively high economic activities. Other locations available are yet to open up for minimal sustainability. Many are just crawling and slowly growing into sustainable economic levels that could make a pharmacist break even in the practice.

Establishing pharmacies in village-type streets in urban areas will not support the basic living conditions of young pharmacists or even some elderly ones, who were not favoured to open up community pharmacies on lucrative streets and are edged out by a cartel of powerful pharmacists who influenced “regulations” to become everlasting “lords” on commercial roads with high human traffic, even dominating hospital zones.

The truth is that some older and very influential pharmacists have cornered community pharmacy practice without qualms, a selfish and domineering behaviour, forgetting that the whole earth is for the Lord God and we all are mortals who will pass away someday.

What are the challenges facing pharmacy practice in Nigeria and how can they be surmounted?

Several challenges have evolved over the years, and the culture, attitude and environment have constituted the main problems for Pharmacy and every other profession and, indeed, the individual Nigerian.

Until justice and fairness become our watchword, there can never be peace in the professional arena. The challenge of practising any profession morally and ethically would always be a distraction and any gain by one would be viewed as a loss for the other. There are certainly enough laws guiding the profession, but respect for the law is often applied subjectively.

How best do you think the issue of fake drugs and counterfeit medicines can be curbed?

The problem of fake drugs started several years back. When I was the marketing manager of Pfizer, I tried my best to curb it, as majority of Pfizer products were also being counterfeited.

I recall a time when we took some offenders to court, the subject matter is described in legal parlance as ‘passing off’. We had about 35 varieties of counterfeited Pfizer’s TERRAMYCIN in the market ranging from names like Termicin, Tercin, Tamycin and about 30 others. We managed to win some cases, but we lost others.

Personally, I think the government is not doing enough to help us in this regard. There should be punitive laws for culprits. While I will not support death sentences for culprits, I think long term imprisonment will serve to deter several others

How do you mean?

It is simple. Why allowing open drug markets in Nigeria when, actually, in China, if the government catches you doing this, they will kill you immediately? But Nigeria has been treating the issue with kid’s gloves because of vested interests. We need an enabling law. I remember how my life was at risk during the raid we carried out on Onitsha market back then. Open drug markets are now everywhere, in Lagos, Kano and others.

What is your view concerning growing fears among young community pharmacists that the old ones are not accommodating?

This is why I said earlier that community pharmacy has been messed up. My grouse is that patent medicine stores and even pharmacies not owned by pharmacists are sited within the 200-meter gap and without sanctions. This “rule” must be abrogated or systematically reviewed to be devoid of selfishness of elders in the profession.

Also, some elders are lording their appetite for domination over current and upcoming generation of pharmacists. Some elders in the profession should rescind abuse of their previous exalted positions and privileges previously enjoyed which influenced the 200 meters “rule” to their advantage. This unpopular “rule” is not an Act of parliament and the implication is clear. The examples often cited of some countries and elsewhere are in error as there are lots of enabling incentives for young and upcoming pharmacists I those places. The draconian 200-meter gap rule should be significantly reduced to about 20  meters in hospital areas.

My view is that in hospital areas of about one kilometre radius, ideally, pharmacies could cluster as close as 10 meters apart. Competition should be allowed to play itself not domination and perpetuity of family practice, as it is today. In areas distant from hospital catchment, not more than 25 meters should be allowed. To ask pharmacists to open premises in untapped streets and villages, places without access roads, infrastructure and economic viability are non-existent, is outright invitation to militant resistance and litigations against PSN/PCN in no distant future. The time is now for review.

Is the rule not an attempt to make more pharmacists move into rural areas instead of the over-saturated urban areas?

So I was told. But where is the potential in that? Where is the economic activity? Now you expect the pharmacist to make N100 all day, not even N1,000. The proponents of this policy or call it selfish elders are not realistic. It is not a law of parliament but a policy put together by some selfish elders. It is an outright infringement of the fundamental human rights of pharmacists, yes it is. Very unaccommodating, I must say!

 How active were you in PSN-related activities?

I, together with the likes of Pharm. Ogundibo, Pharm. Bob Manuel of Glaxo and some few others pioneered the establishment of the Industrial Pharmacists group, an arm of the PSN in the early ‘80s. From my time as marketing manager to general manager, deputy managing director, to chairman/managing director, I strived to cause Pfizer to support the PSN at local and national levels in meetings, debates, and in resolving topical issues, including policy of engaging pharmacists by companies as pharmaceutical representatives, pricing guidelines to companies, ethical practices by companies etc.

Every year at the PSN annual national conference from 1977 to 1988 and, particularly, in the era of Nigeria’s SAP(Structural Adjustment Programme), as a pharmacist at the helm of affairs in Pfizer, I made sure Pfizer solely sponsored all key PSN conference opening buffet lunch. Pfizer painted the PSN conference programme red with products adverts to inform and educate all on Pfizer research -based products.

Pfizer partnered well with the PSN. It was a win-win deal as Pfizer successfully launched many of its key research -based products at the time. Several other companies are today on the queue to support the PSN with programme adverts and buffet lunch at the annual PSN meetings.

Let me seize this opportunity to commend the literary ingenuity of Elder Pharm. Atueyi for his pioneering efforts on the Pharmanews journal. Pfizer, under my leadership partnered with him through innovative centre-spread adverts, which commenced with FELDENE centre-spread advert from 1980/1981 and beyond. It is now well emulated by other companies. It was Atueyi then and I in action.

From my exposure to Pfizer veterinary pharmaceutical business from 1987 to 1998, I knew that veterinary business, if well managed, is more profitable than human pharmaceutical business but many pharmacists are unaware. Some level of understanding is required by pharmacists to also be involved in veterinary pharmaceutical practice. Therefore, in 1992, I got together the deans of the faculties of Pharmacy in three of our universities, dean of a veterinary institution and the then registrar of the Pharmacists  Council of Nigeria to deliberate, decide and agree on curriculum/courses on veterinary medicine in Pharmacy degree programme. The blueprint from the two-day meeting, which was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, seems moribund but I pray it will be revived soon.

I am a Merit Award winner, Courtesy of PSN, Lagos State Branch; a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (FPSN);and a Fellow of theWest African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (FPCPharm.).

How do you see the annual PSN national conferences?

The jamboree aspect is about 60 per cent, while the scientific aspect which is educational, sort of continuing education in Pharmacy, is about 30 per cent. The balance of 10 percent is for politics. I enjoy it though. But it is advisable to shift the priorities when we have policy decisions – we should know who is to do what and strive to report back by next conference.

If you were not to be a pharmacist, what other profession would you have opted for?

When I was in secondary school, there was this dog we had with yellow eyelids. One day, the dog misbehaved, became a threat to people and my father shot it. Being a biology enthusiast, I took it upon myself to bury it. I exhumed it after some weeks and skilfully put every skeletal bone in their proper place. As brilliant as I was, I identified all the bones, the vertebral column as I was thought in school (including the skull) correctly. Perhaps I could have become a surgeon or doctor. Against all expectations, I turned out to be a pharmacist. I think it was partly because I saw some pharmacists compounding medicines at the Ilorin General Hospital when I was on the queue to collect a cough medicine. I was really impressed!  I also saw a pharmacist at a time searching for herbs and also sorting out some leaves, combining and grinding them to make some concoctions. You know that pharmacognosy is also a vital part of Pharmacy.

As an elder in the profession, what is your advice to young pharmacists?

They need to be definitive and decide early enough which arm of pharmacy practice they desire to be involved in. They need not beat about the bush. It doesn’t matter whether you are in hospital, industrial, community or academic pharmacy practice– the sky is your limit. They must work hard, adequately equip themselves and, above all, allow the fear of God and the direction of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct them. That’s the key to success.

I think they can also take a cue from Pharmanews.  Atueyi is someone I know is quite principled. He knew what he wanted to do from day one. At one point, he was editor of the PSN journal. He wasn’t well equipped for the job because the PSN wasn’t taking the publication as serious as he and, indeed, some of us desired. But his flair for hardwork and focus saw him succeed. This is why I said people should work toward their goals.

(By Nelson Okwonna)

For most development endeavours, intense faith is necessary. Faith is the belief, often without sufficient logical proof, that something could be and should be in a certain way.

In the article, “The Discipline of Innovation”, founder of modern management, Peter F. Drucker, noted that innovation is the practice of knowing. This practice of knowing, of identifying what ought to be, is born not just of the mere flash of genius (inspiration), but often of a cold-eyed commitment to analyzing sources of innovation.

There are various sources of innovation, which include: natural phenomena (creatures), relationships (among creatures, and between them and the Creator) andthe well-known flash of genius.

I have used the term “creatures” to refer to all that is of nature as I am convinced that there are more proofs for Intelligent Design than for Evolution as a rational basis for the origin of species. For example, science, as described by the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary,is the study of the physical world and phenomena, especially by using systematic observation and experiments.

Note the expression, “the study of the physical world and phenomena”. Thus, from an Intelligent Design point of view, science could be defined as the systematic study of creature.

Since this Intelligent Designer is not obvious and cannot be studied in our laboratories though His handiwork abound in us and in our world, considerations taken with Him in mind in a quest for development usually constitute some elements of faith.

The genius scientist in his laboratory who is “haunted” by the voice of this Designer, labouring and striving like one possessed, to bring about definite results of which he is only dimly knowledgeable could be said to be interacting with faith. The scientist who studies physical phenomena which was birthed by this Voice to harness truths and principles of realities may not know it but he is interacting with faith. His efforts are born of a singular but often denied belief – that there are principles in creature, that there is order, a systematic flow to things (call it intelligence if you like); and that this systematic nature of things would continue.

A noted scholar once said, “We would have to answer the question of God’s existence once and for all because for either alternative, there are serious consequences.” Indeed there are.If He doesn’t exist, then we are on this random sphere of a matter, rotating at a speed of about 1675 km per hour around an axis and revolving around a very hot sun and no one is in control!

Well, if He does exist, then the knowledge brings a whole lot of meaning to our science.

Hence, for science to exist, we have to believe that there is a systematic order to things and though the source of this order is not known and not verifiable in our laboratory, it is very much real.

Faith is a posture of the heart that is led by an understanding of such invisible dealings. It is the mannerisms and convictions of individuals who can see the invisible and hear the inaudible.It is a commitment to that which has not yet appeared but has been fully settled in the heart of the individual.

We arrive at faith when we make room for the invisible, when we attend to spiritual realities and draw inferences from them. This commitment is voluntary and very deliberate.

The place for understanding and depth

It is impossible to understand something to which attention has not been given though it is within the realms of our consciousness. This attention is born of a deep respect for the Invisible.

For example, there are men to which reverential fear abides in the study of microbes. The microscope, to them, is the visa to another realm entirely and we should be grateful for their awe. There are other men to whom it is rocks; to some, it is music; and to others, the nature of chemical structures.

To these individuals, the respect for that invisible thing in them which makes them love what they do is one of the most critical steps in the path of innovation. As someone said, “those that must engage in development endeavour must first believe in themselves.”

After attention, comes meditation. The first look often will not do it; concerted effort is needed and, many times, a great deal of exertion should follow.

Depth is essentially a focused attention to meaning. This focus has a price: consecration – foregoing alternatives. Depth changes the realities of the individual involved. It gives a new prism from which every other thing is seen; and this new prism helps produce a positive feedback mechanism such that, with little time, an attentive individual who has paid the price of consecration would find that he or she has gained mastery.

The wilderness of faith

It is not always that we have the means to pursue the demands of unseen realities.It is often the observed that the greatest hindrance to the researcher is funding.

In our world, everyone needs funding – universities, businesses, governments. One begins to wonder what is really missing.Itappears the rewards of our productivities are often below current demands, and this should say a lot about our tastes and pursuits.

Yet, it not always money that really stops the genius. More often, it is the prototype that the society demands of him. With time, he finds that to realise his most important goals, he must become a stranger to the world. He must decide to find for himself a new paradigm. Thus, he sits down within his wilderness and writes himself a new charter.He says, “This is who I am under God, and this is why I live. These are my commandments and my goal posts. I do not care what anyone thinks of me.So help me God.”

After this, he finds that he is different being – Aman never to be moved by the vicissitudes of life.Whatever betides, he has found a bearing away from here.

The nobility of patience

In the much quoted Abraham Lincoln’s letter to his son’s teacher are these words:”Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patience to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.”

There is courage for impatience. This is the type we need to remove obstacles and to engage the bottlenecks. The patience of bravery is that which insists that we never give up, never.

“Continuous effort” says Winston Churchill, “not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” Of course, there are times when one needs to rest, get refreshed before continuing at perspiration.

This courage to persevere is born of redeeming love – a righteous goodwill towards the subject(s) under consideration. It is something that we must encourage in people, a fire to be fed and a faith very much to be appreciated.

The purpose called compassion

It takes desire to seek, to search out things other than our own interests. Compassion creates for us unique fields of interests within which we could make our contributions and drive innovation. It lays out clear subject matters that inspire and stimulate our curiosities.

Faith demands that we attend to the subjects of this compassion, the things we really care about. By compassion, I refer to a reasoning compassion – not one that complains about scenarios but one that is able to feel without being overwhelmed by feelings; one that can find pragmatic solutions in challenging times.

It is difficult for us to find solutions that will affect humanity if we’ve not harboured compassion on issues that affect humanity. Our compassion helps create our opportunities. Most times, the “breakthrough” we’ve been praying for comes when we reach out to lend a helping hand, to help another achieve their vision, to help with a project, to do that thing that we love even when it doesn’t pay much and to value affection over compensation.

In Summary           

The faith walk on the path of innovation is one that is engaged in when we can attend to the invisible, value it and allow compassion lead us to noble paths. It will lead along the path called “wilderness” and will make new men of all that would overcome. It is such that will bring greater understanding of the meaning of persistence and redefine our understanding of realities. At the end, it assures a fuller life and, ultimately, a more rewarding life here and hereafter.

– As NIM holds Centenary Management Day Lecture

For Nigeria to achieve its goal of being among the best 20 economies by the year 2020, the principles of good management must be imbibed and deployed in maximising its abundant human and natural resources.

This was the submission of the President and Chairman of Council, Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) and former President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Dr Nelson U. O. Uwaga.

Uwaga made this assertion while presenting his welcome address at theNigerian Institute of Management (NIM)’s Centenary Management Day Lecture, held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos, in April.

At the gathering, which was also used to mark the country’s centenary commemoration,Uwaga noted that for Nigeria to be taken seriously among the comity of nations and for it to move from where it is to where it desires to be, it must begin to gravitate towards management excellence in all aspects of national life, adding that it is one of the surest ways of setting the nation on the path of greatness as it begins another century.

Earlier in his speech, the NIM boss had stated that one of the reasons the institute held both the annual lecture and the centenary celebration at the same time, was to contribute its quota to the steps being taken to taken to move the nation to the next level.

“The institute thought it wise to join government, other well-meaning Nigerians and corporate bodies to celebrate the nation’s accomplishments,” he said.”In doing this, we will also be looking critically at the challenges and prospects and put forward the best way to manage the nation and its abundant resources to set it on the path of sustainable development in the years ahead.”

Delivering the keynote address, titled, “Defining Nigeria’s Nationhood at 100 Years: The Viewpoint of Management”,Prof. Cornelius Alaba

Ogunsanwo of Lead City University, who had beenNigerian ambassador to Belgium, Luxemburg and the European Union at different times, observed that while Lord Lugard’s attempt at amalgamatingthe Southern and Northern Protectorates to form Nigeria in 1914 was purely for administrative and financial reasons, it was necessary to ascertain whether the successive managers of the nation in the past one hundred years had succeeded in moulding the various nationalities of the country into one nation.

“If the foundation laid was on sand which could not but be shifting, what efforts have we made to ensure that indeed we really want to build a nation out of the multiplicity of nations within Nigeria?” he queried.

Citing several indices, including the unending struggle for resource control and the spate of bomb­ings and incessant killings in the Northern part of the country, the university don noted that that the task of nation building had not been properly handled by the country’s managers.He consequently counseled that concrete steps must be taken to improve the status quo. Such steps, according to him, includefull return to true federalism, abolition of central control of the nation’s resources, reduction of federal responsibility to key areas and allowance of regional constitution which would include police powers,

“There is need for massive devolution of power and responsibilities to the second tier of government, which we advocate should be based on the existing six geo-political zones, which will now be regions. Within each region, there will be provincial governors since our politicians love titles,” Ogunsanwo said.

The colourful event was attended byprominent personalities and professionals from all walks of life, including Mrs Margaret  Adeleke, first female president, NIM; Prof. Munzali Jibril, Deputy President, NIM; Pharm. Azubike Okwor, immediate past president, PSN; Pharm (Sir) Ifeanyi Atueyi, publisher, Pharmanews; and Pharm. Jimi Agbaje.

The federal government recently announced plans to introduce Herbal Medicine as a course of study in Nigerian universities. Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, made the announcement at the 3rd Annual Guest Lecture of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, held in Abuja on 4 April.

The health minister disclosed that a committee had submitted the course curriculum, which would soon be presented to the National Council on Health (NCH), adding that, once approved, candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination could begin applying for the course from next year.

In this edition of Pharmanews, our reporter, Oladejo Adebayo, went out to get peoples’ opinions on the issue. Their views are presented below:

FG never ceases to amaze me

Sometimes when I read about the policies or decisions of this present government on issues that concern the citizenry, I am surprised because it is either they are off-track or they are pointless.

Imagine in a country where lecturers’ strike has become the order of the day, the federal government still wants to introduce more courses.Where are the facilities to take care of the courses and where is the political will on the part of the government to pump in more funds to upgrade our universities and motivate the lecturers who will do the work?

We shouldn’t deceive ourselves – our public officials are all comedians. I wonder how funny it would sound when you ask an undergraduate what course he is studying and he says it’s Herbal Medicine.

However, looking at it from another perspective, it may not really be a bad idea because it could help strengthen the status of herbal medicine in comparison with orthodox medicine. It is a known fact that about 70 percent of Nigerians use herbs or traditional medicines to treat their illnesses.Having Herbal Medicine as a course in the university will help the government properly regulate the usage of herbal drugs. It will also allow for wider consultation and research on various means of treating sicknesses in a traditional way.

So, while I would not disagree that the plan is a good one, I would still repeat that the government lacks the will to properly implement it and make it beneficial to the general populace.

Adekanmi Adekemi

Ayobo Ipaja, Lagos

It is a welcome development

This is the best opportunity to put herbal medicine in its rightful place. Before the advent of orthodox medicine, we Africans had survived on herbal medicines for years and after the advent of orthodox medicine, majority of people, especially the masses, still survive on herbal drugs.So with this development, we are on the verge of taking the whole world by storm in the aspect of provision of efficacious medicine with little or no side effects.

Herbal medicines, as far as I am concerned, have more efficacy and potency than the orthodox drugs and the earlier we realise this, the better for us.Sothe move is a step in the right direction. But, it is one thing to take a decision and another to make it work.The onus is now on the federal government to ensure the plan isproperly implemented. Our government is known for insincerity when it comes to issues of this nature because there is no way some people’s interests will not be affected; and once this happens, the whole thing becomes history. So, my sincere appeal goes to the stakeholders in the process to not only ensure that the course is approved, but that it is properly implemented.

Odekanle David

Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

FG is getting it right this time

This is the best decision taken so far by the federal government and I dare say that, if this is properly implemented, the whole of Africa and the world at large would soon be looking in our direction for assistance when it comes to healthcare provision.

The introduction of Herbal Medicine into the curriculum of our Universities is another dimension to giving credence to our indigenous discoveries in the area of drug making and this will go a long way in projecting our image positively to the world.For instance, during the administration of Chief OlusegunObasanjo, Dr Jeremiah Abalaka, an immunologist and proprietor of Medicrest Specialist Hospital in Abuja, claimed that he had found a cure to HIV/AIDS; but because our system does not give credibility to anything African, the claim was dismissed and all the efforts of the respected doctor became fruitless.

Imagine what the likes of Dr Akintunde Ayeni of YEM-KEM International, Rev Fr Adodo of Pax Herbal Diagnostic Centre and others are doing through herbal medication.You will agree with me that herbal medicine has come to stay.

Adelowokan David

Ibafo, Ogun State

Kudos to the FG

I have always wondered why we find it difficult to appreciate what God has given us rather than wasting money and time on what is not ours. I have said it times without number that orthodox medicine is not the best solution to our healthcare needs and I am happy now that the federal government itself has recognised.

As Africans, God has blessed us with various things that we need to take care of our health. In the days of our forefathers, there were no orthodox medicines and they lived fine and even now that we have the orthodox medicines, most of the ingredients that used to make them are obtained from the herbs.So what other proof do we need that we need to embrace our local herbs?

Also, apart from the fact that this giant step by the federal government will broaden the scope of knowledge of our local drugs manufacturers, it will also create employment opportunities for our teeming unemployed youths and as well reduce the rate at which people die of curable diseases.

I want to therefore urge the federal government to ensure that the course is approved and rightly implemented.

Salako Adesegun

Ikotun, Lagos.

Personal Success

Your mind is like a sleeping giant. All scientific evidence now indicates that the creative or artistic mind is just as intelligent as the academic mind. Einstein for instance, often considered the greatest scientist of all time, was not simply a fuzzy-headed mathematical physicist whose brain was full of numbers and formulas. Records show that he failed mathematics at school and that he was nearly thrown out of college for day-dreaming.

According to Einstein himself, he discovered the Theory of Relativity not seated at his desk, but while lying on his back on a hill one summer day.  He looked up with his eyes half-closed, the sun filtering through his eyelashes breaking into thousands of tiny sunbeams. In his imagination, he took a ride on one of those sunbeams on a journey through the universe. His imagination took him to a place where his formal training in physics told him he should not be. Concerned about this, he went back to his blackboard and believing his imagination to be more correct than his formal training, worked out a new mathematics to explain the truth of what he intuitively knew to be true.

Einstein used both sides and aspects of his brain to an exceptional degree – one producing the beautiful imagined journey and the other to develop a new physics and mathematics to provide a formal framework for the image he had created. His imagination provided mankind with one of the most significant theories of all time. The question now is: what will you do with your imagination?

A new BMW today has more computer systems in it than the Apollo 13 which was the most sophisticated moon rocket in its day. We’ve moved into the information age with knowledge as the primary source of value, so fast that most of the major institutions of society have not yet caught up or even caught on.

William Shakespeare said, “Imagination is reaching into heaven and bringing down to earth a great idea and it’s up to you to work it and make it real.” Imagination taps your divine creative potential. Imagination is your life’s preview of coming attractions. Use your imagination and who knows what an extraordinary contribution you can make to the planet.

What you are imagining and thinking right now will strongly influence your experience tomorrow. What the future has in store for you is totally determined by what you have in store for the future. What you vividly imagine and ardently desire tends to materialize. What you visualise you realise. Remember, visualise, internalise, and then actualise to materialise and realise.

Worry is the misuse of imagination and is a form negative gold visualising. Its positive goal-setting and visualising in reverse. A new state of mind creates a new state of circumstances. Your future is contained of limitless opportunity.

In Napoleon Hill’s blockbuster “Think and Grow Rich” he writes, “Imagination is the workshop of the mind and is capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.” He also taught that your sub-conscious mind can’t distinguish between what is vividly imagined and what is real. Your Sub-conscious Mind connects to the Super-Conscious Mind and Infinite Intelligence. It draws to you and manifests for you the people, circumstances, and events that you imagined in vivid detail. Imagination embraces the entire universe. It stimulates progress and gives birth to new and great ideas.

Rufus Jones went so far as to say “Getting your imagination captured is almost the whole of life.” Knowing that the palest ink is better than the most remarkable memory. I think what Rufus was referring to is to develop the habit of capturing your imagination by writing down good ideas as soon as they flow. It is very important to capture these thoughts by writing them down immediately. Don’t wait till later; the most brilliant revelations may escape you if you do. The author Clarence Klein once said that, “he believed he discovered the one great compelling force, which makes every man what he is in the end. That force was imagination.”

This new millennium is pregnant with the greatest opportunities this planet has ever seen. Napoleon Bonaparte, the great French commander said, “Imagination rules the world,” He was once asked, why he was such a great military leader and he replied, “I can tell you how long it will take to take a certain number of elephants to get from Germany to Egypt and I have the ability to have men die for me without knowing the reason why.”

In my native Canada several years ago there was a general contractor who had built over 70 homes, and a few retail stores at a trading outpost in northern Saskatchewan. They were also responsible for building a powerhouse and installing generators. They had less than a mile of overhead power line to run when they got caught with an early winter. Temperatures dropped to 50 degrees below zero. Unless they got the line in by the 1st of December the company would lose a lot of money. Nobody could figure out how to dig 4-foot holes in the ground that was frozen more than 4 feet deep, and you can’t set a pole in the ground without a hole and you can’t string a power line without a pole.

Then an office clerk came up with what at first seemed like a ridiculous idea. Blow holes in the ground with dynamite, fill the holes with water, set the poles in the water, the water will freeze to ice and it will hold the poles solid as a rock until the spring thaw comes and then you can set them properly with concrete. They tried her idea. They had some problems to overcome but it worked. The dynamited hole was made driving a steel rod into the ground with a sledge hammer but first the rod had to be heated red hot to get in into the frozen ground and they had to be heated 40 to 50 times for each hole. A portable forge was dragged from hole to hole. Nearly 80 holes were made in the ground. The water was carried in from a nearby river with bobsleds carrying 2-100 gallon drums with faucet welded onto them. The faucet had to be thawed with a blowtorch to get the water out of the barrels and into the holes for the uprights.

The job was done on time, and by using an office clerks’ imagination that at first sounded completely idiotic. In fact the clerk told them afterwards that she almost didn’t tell them of her idea since she was afraid of being ridiculed and laughed at.

Now the question is, what ideas have your imagination given you that you’ve failed to act upon because you were afraid of being ridiculed or laughed at?

Culled from SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE by RICHARD CARSWELL

In this no-holds-barred interview with Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis, Pharm. Lawrence Okwuchukwu Anyafulu, former deputy president of PSN(1977-1979) and chairman of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), East-Central State Branch from 1974 to 1977, explains some of the intrigues surrounding the issue of counterfeit medicine and why he thinks hospital pharmacists are not doing enough to help themselves.

Tell us a little about yourself, especially your early life

My early life was not spent in one place. My elementary education, for instance, was done in nearly eight schools due to frequent movements of my aunt whom I was staying with.

My first experience of what they called “school” was while I was in Okitipupa, Ondo State. I am not sure I spent up to six months there though. From there, we moved to Enugu where I had my primary one. I must have been in Enugu for about three years before we were transferred again to Nsukka. There I had my schooling up to class two. Shortly after, we went back to Enugu where I had classes two and three. Classes three, four and five were done in Warri, present day Delta State. I didn’t really finish Class five at Warri as we made a short stay in Kwale where I spent four months in another school. From there, my aunt moved again to Sapele where I attended Government College for my Standard 6 certificate.

I passed my common entrance and got admitted into Hussey College. The slogan, then, used to be “There is only one college in Warri – Hussey College and others.” At that time, the focus was to be educated, not just to pass exam.

So can we say that your education only stabilised when you got to Hussey College?

Yes. I must say that I had a nice time in the school which was doing well in the area of sports. There was a time we competed favourably with the likes of Government College, Kings College, St Gregory’s College and Igbobi. I was not just a school prefect but also an active footballer.

At that time too, I joined what was called “Anti-Graft Society, which had the slogan, “Don’t give bribe, don’t accept bribe and don’t abet bribe”. That Society also prepared the way for me to shun anything that has to do with corruption.

Tell us about your work experience

Immediately I left college, I had a brief stint working as a civil servant. I was asked to work with federal prisons as a clerk. I am not so sure but I think I spent like two to three years there before I resolved to further my studies instead of remaining a civil servant.

Why did you choose to study Pharmacy when you could have done any other science course?

At that time, my initial intention was to study Agriculture. That was perhaps because I come from an area where the people are predominantly into fishing and farming. So I believed that doing that might improve whatever area I eventually delved into. I later changed my mind and opted to study at the School of Pharmacy, Yaba, from 1956 to 1959. Some of my course mates were Fidelis Omiyi, Harry Ajagun, Emma Osuji, Sam Ejikeme, Ayo Adejoko, T. O. Daudu and William Ekpo. About four or five of us are now Fellows.

How did you end up working for a federal parastatal?

When I graduated, I thought of going to the East but it didn’t work out. So I started working with the federal government. My first official assignment was with Federal Hospital, Lagos. I was moved to Yaba dispensary where I worked for sometime before calling it quits. At the general hospital, I worked under Pharm. Ojomu and the likes of Lady Nylander, a very hardworking, jovial and strict lady. We were doing shifts and things were going on fine. Most of our mixtures, ranging from lotions to tonics were made there. We neither bought nor outsourced.

Tell us about some memorable controversies and intriguing events relating to the practice during your time

One of the major controversies we had then was on the issue of wages and salary structure for pharmacists in the country. We formed a strong union that was called Nigeria Union of Pharmacists (NUP) because we were not happy with the situation of things in the federal ministry. As the general secretary of the union, I had to travel to Ibadan to motivate and persuade them that there was hope. We went on agitating and subsequently called for industrial action at some point. But the federal government refused to back out saying we should quit if we were not contented. So we went on strike and were always resuming at Yaba to ensure everybody was in good health.

At that time, only one person showed interest in our activities and was steadily coming to encourage us from the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology – Bruno Nwankwo (current chairman of PCN). It got so bad that, at a point, many pharmacists wanted to decamp and work in other sectors. I met with Andrew Egboh and Otobo and together we continued the struggle until Scale A salary structure was introduced to appease us. From there, I told myself I needed to move on, having tried enough to bring recognition to the profession.

Did you leave because the pressure was taking its toll on you?

No, it was a personal decision. After I left, I joined John Holt in 1965. Unlike now, it was formerly called West African Drug Company, which helped to train many of those great pharmacists such as IfeanyiAtueyi, Adebowale, the late BayoOgunyemi and myself. We were all made to change our mode of thinking to start seeing things like businessmen from all ramifications – marketing, sales, distribution, and so on. What this also means is that we were always travelling both within the country and abroad.

Tell us more about your involvement in pharmaceutical activities

As a secretary of NUP, I was elected member of the Pharmacy Board (now Pharmacists Council) from 1962 to 1965. After the civil war, I was made chairman of Pharmaceutical Society of  Nigeria (PSN), East-Central States, which comprises Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Anambra, from 1974 to 1977. Due to the vastness of the area, we had to zone it.

Imagine back then, we had only one pharmacist in Okigwe, Imo State. At a point, we were calling it a one-man zone. Let me say that it was during my era that PSN started functioning as an organised zone, in terms of income and attendance.

Did you record any notable achievement during your tenure?

I give glory to God because in my era, too, we were able to carry out the first raid on Onitsha market. Another notable person in our team then was the father of  Dr. Joe Odumodu, present director general of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), who is also a pharmacist. This is why we are not surprised that “Young Joe”is equally doing well because we know his father’s DNA is still very much in him. The father was my senior by two years in school.

What was it like heading a multinational company as WAD?

It was a good experience. In my career at WAD, I started as a trainee manager but later climbed the wrung of the leadership ladder. I soon made it to senior manager, area manager, deputy managing director before I eventually became the MD. I was the first indigenous managing director in WAD for 10 years before I retired in 1990.

Is it true that you were once with the Lagos Chambers of Commerce?

Yes! I was chairman of the pharmaceutical group in Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 10 years until somebody else was elected. In fact, after I left, many people clamoured for me to come back but I declined. In 1979, I was made honourary life vice president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

What was the profession like in your day compared to today’s practice?

As a member of Pharmacy Board, we were always discussing issues bordering on pharmacy practice and the country. We also deliberated on import and export duties as well as ways to improve. We also prepared our budgets and submitted to government through the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Among other things, we were very keen to know about importation of drugs in the country; what quantity was produced, how many were imported and produced locally. We set up a committee to look into fake drugs and the quality of products imported. I can remember vividly that the committee was chaired by Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa who was then with Pfizer.It was even then that we found out that the genuine drugs were not more than 10 per cent and that the fake constitute about 70 per cent. We discovered that a large chunk of the drugs made here were fake. We submitted the report to the government and, for many years, the report was what they acted on. We also enjoined that they used the opportunity to reactivate pharmaceutical research but unfortunately they were foot-dragging. So we raised money in the industry and started the research ourselves.

How are you enjoying life in retirement?

Well, what can I say? On my social life after retirement in 1990, I continued doing pharmacy business with some companies for 10 years and saw how things were going. Then I decided to slow down before I stopped. I don’t sell or trade as a pharmacist now. I just observe things, which I think is better for me.

Having worked 25 years with WAD, I think I have paid my dues. I am a member of some notable associations like the Rotary Club of Tin Can which I had to quit after sometime because of the distance and stress involved. I compensated by joining the Rotary Club of Lagos West which is nearer to me.

What was the profession like in your day compared to today’s practice?

The practice of Pharmacy wasn’t as porous as it is now. Patent medicine vendors were not as bold as they are now. I remember that we were always able to track the fake ones among them. In the 1970s, the best analgesic used in Nigeria was Buscodin. But it dawned on some people that they could make a kill of it. They imported the drug and were selling at half price. It became so worrisome that Mr. Pearce, the then managing director of Boots approached me. I was in Aba then being chairman of East-Central States. Pearce came all the way to see me in Aba.

Luckily, I was able to unravel the mystery throught the efforts of Amaikwu, Boots pharmacist, who helped to track down the culprits. He was also a pharmacist. So we brought in the police and rounded up the operation. The police came, saw the exhibits but were only able to take out one drum. When they returned, the remaining had disappeared. Mr Pearce was baffled but I reassured him the matter would be taken to court as a last resort.

So the first thing we did was to ensure the place was barred. But the suspects also changed their own names and the product label to another brand and continued to sell.  When I observed how things were going, I told Mr. Pearce to allow them continue to sell it. Because even if we claimed those products were fake, they would be subjected to forensic test and the result of the laboratory test would decide that.

As I earlier said, they did not only change the name, the packaging too had undergone transformation. So it is a trend that will continue. It is a war that we can’t win completely. So this was our own little effort aimed at taming counterfeit medicine back then. There were times many of us were ambushed by cartels who saw us as perennial threats.

It appears you have a misgiving towards hospital pharmacists. Why?

I must say that pharmacists in hospital practice today appear to be in ice block. In our era, while I was working in Federal Ministry of Health, we initiated action. We went ahead and started something. When it was becoming too much for us, we invited in the PSN. I remember that some of the struggles we went through were complete stalemate. Who cares? It has always been between us and the government.

But the present pharmacists in federal and state employments fold their hands and want PSN to fight their battle. This is the major difference between the two. They should be able to initiate action. And if the heat becomes much, PSN can come in. It is wrong to always expect PSN to be the arrowhead of every struggle. That is my own advice.

If you were not to be a pharmacist, would you have opted for football where your youthful passion lies?

I wouldn’t have made it into any serious football club. So football couldn’t have been my choice. Surprisingly, being a member of Anti-Graft Society back in school, I thought I would have ended up as a policeman. But when my father heard it, he convinced me to think otherwise. Subsequently I dropped the idea because I learnt the police had too many enemies.

My hard-line stance on bribery didn’t really go down well with some people. I think having such background also helped a lot in pharmacy practice. Truth be told, if I were given the chance to start all over again, I would still be a pharmacist. What I have achieved today, quietly and peacefully, was due to Pharmacy. And I have personally observed that Pharmacy is improving year by year.

(By Pharm. Nelson Okwonna)

In open economies, where channels of import and export exist, factors other than strategic intent and the availability of human and material resources, become increasingly important in deciding between alternative courses of actions. One of such factors is cost.

After the IMF instigated the Structural Adjustment Programme of 1985 – which was ostensibly designed to boost local productivity, decrease imports and launch Nigeria to a more prosperous path – suffered a colossal failure, manufacturing activities in Nigeria have never remained the same.

One major effect of the policy was the astronomical rise in the cost of raw materials like machine parts and expatriate labour (in fact, everything that came through the borders became expensive, including the factors of production). Also, there was no commensurate increase in the earning capacity of the indigenous labour force; hence those who could migrate to “greener pastures” migrated.

In sum, the effects of the policy could be described as follows:

A.   Increased cost of production due to increased cost of material inputs.

B.    Decrease in the pool of available human capital due to migration (which is more difficult to replenish).

C.    Incentives for the importation of finished goods and not for localised production.

D.   Greater barriers to manufacturing and worthwhile research and development efforts.

Sadly, from that time (1985) till now, we are still battling to find our footing. Add corruption to our challenges and you get a better picture. The aim of this article, however, is not to chronicle our predicaments but to offer a ray of light.

On 20 June 2013, the NIPRD-Industry Business Summit held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja. The event, which was chaired by veteran pharmaceutical industry leader, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, had, in attendance, other distinguished CEOs and representatives from stakeholder-organisations in the pharmaceutical industry.

The summit highlighted the earnest desire for change among stakeholders, as industry partners presented their areas of need and called for intense collaboration from NIPRD. Since then, other strategic meetings have been held to advance the cause of indigenous research and development. Still, there are many new calls for increased R&D drive from representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and my engagement with NIPRD and other pharmaceutical research organisations show that the sun shall yet shine on pharmaceutical research and development in Nigeria.

The points I mentioned much earlier were to demonstrate why this sun is apparently not shinning enough and to buttress issues that need be addressed. A major constraint is cost and one area that accounts for this cost is the clinical trial process.

But apart from cost, there is also the low adaptive capacity of the manufacturing industry and insufficient stakeholder ownership for sustaining research–industry dialogue. The recent calls by the Industry are perhaps indicative of the renewed perception among stakeholders that research & development is perhaps our visa to a glorious future; it shows that the Industry is maturing, though not fast enough, as we try to rid ourselves of the effects of the SAP policy.

On clinical trials

At present, there are very few organisations dedicated to this critical chain in the drug development process. In 2010, working for an indigenous firm involved in drug development, we were able to estimate the cost of delivering a clinical trial for an antimalarial product.

One thing that I took away from the process is that the cost is not as exorbitant as many think. This should be understood within the context of the major cost factors and the nature of the product under examination – a phytopharmaceutical. Two things are peculiar to this kind of product:

A.   WHO has made certain exceptions for Phyto-pharmaceuticals.

B.    The major cost is the human resource cost.

The National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC) has a clear pathway for approving clinical trials in partnership with NAFDAC and the major constraint, from my own point of view, is basically a management challenge and an insufficiency of demand by Industry. Perhaps this is because of limits in the perception of the huge opportunities that exist, a perception that I believe is rapidly changing.

To overcome the human resource cost of delivering a large scale clinical trial, I am advocating for Research–Hospital partnership. The aim is to reduce the initial cost of entry for an industry player. Consider the NIPRISAN/NICOSAN case study (which is chronicled in my book, the Heart and Art of Innovation); despite the huge investments made by NIPRD on developing the sickle cell product, the entry cost for the pharmaceutical stakeholder was $115,000 and a 7.5% of gross sales as royalties. Of course, there must have been many other operational costs.

The purpose of the partnerships would be such that the research organisation (university or institute) that did the basic research and the clinical research organisation (the hospital) are under the same umbrella as in the NIPRD scenario and would also defer gratification (accept royalty terms). The partnerships would address critical issues like:

a.     Delineating knowledge-sharing procedures for relevant stakeholders

b.    Developing human capacity for clinical trial models of major disease groups.

c.     Providing cost estimates of delivering standard protocols

d.    Developing business structures within partner organisations that defer gratification in place of a royalty agreement.

There are many benefits to this from an Industry point of view. Some of which are:

a.     Cheaper cost of entry from a go-to-market angle.

b.    Greater ease for determining potential collaborative R&D budgets.

c.     Greater opportunity for institutional gap analysis.

d.    Greater sustainability of research and development efforts.

e.     Potential for human capacity development across the value chain.

f.     Reduced fragmentation of the drug development chain.

g.    Greater room for the emergence of indigenous clinical research organisations.

Challenges

The major challenge of this proposition is that the potential parties that will make a venture as this feasible are both public organisations – universities/research institutes and teaching hospitals. Bureaucracy and the usual Nigerian factors are powerful factors that must be considered. However, optimists would always choose to see the half-full glass and in this case, I believe that is exactly where we are. The water in our glass may not even be up to the half-mark but it is certainly not empty.

( Temitope  Obayendo)

Pharm (Hajiya) Zainab Shariff, CEO, Nigerian Medicinal Plants Development Company (NMPDC) is a well-known authority on “Green Pharmacy” in Nigeria, having done extensive work on several medicinal plants. In this exclusive chat with Temitope  Obayendo, Shariff, who is also the national chairperson of the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPs) explains why the federal government must integrate herbal medicine into the Nigerian health care delivery system. She also emphasises the role of adequate funding in productive research. Excerpts:

It was recently reported that only 25 per cent of medicinal plants are utilised in Nigeria. As an advocate of herbal medicine, what factors do you think will enhance the harnessing of Nigerian medicinal plants for health and nutritional benefits?

To fully harness the usefulness and efficacy of these plants, there must be increased sensitisation of Nigerians to appreciate the values and enormous potentials that abound with their use. The federal government, on its part, must initiate and facilitate policies through the Federal Ministry of Health by passing the Traditional Medicine Policy, to regulate the practice.

There is also the need to facilitate the integration of herbal medicine into the healthcare delivery system. This will stimulate research and development, as well as processing and packaging of herbal products.

Added to this is the need to discourage importation of such products mostly from  China and India currently flooding our markets. Reduced interest in the quest for chemically synthesised drugs and a desire by the global pharmaceutical sector to promote “Green Pharmacy” will also promote utilisation.

Since the creation of NMPDC, how far has it gone in harnessing the potentials of herbals for the improvement of health care in the country?

NMPDC has, so far, successfully cultivated and commercialised Artemisia annua (a Chinese antimalarial plant used in producing ACTs). We currently have four products in the market: Artemisia tea, Artemisia tea plus, Morigvite tea and Morigvite powder. Also, there are nine new products that we plan to introduce to the market, which are currently awaiting approval by NAFDAC.

Many research findings have identified several nutritional phytochemicals in plants. Most of these findings have however died a natural death, due to lack of sponsors. How can this issue be addressed?

Researchers are urged to carry out their findings from A-Z. Research findings on medicinal plants at every stage have the potential to generate revenue, while the revenue generated is used for further research. This is done to prevent research works ending up under lock and key, and even forgotten. Most importantly, there must be a strong political will by the government to support research institutes through adequate funding and encouragement of private participation to commercialise research findings.

It has been observed that fertilisers used in cultivating some plants make them unhealthy for consumption. Do you agree with this observation?

As much as possible, it is better and safer to go more organic, and less inorganic in the choice of fertiliser used.

How cordial is the relation between NMPDC, faculties of pharmacy and other research institutions?

There has been a very cordial relationship,by way of collaborative efforts,with universities such as University of Jos,  Zaria,and University of Benin. Research institutes, such as NIPRD, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme, Raw Materials Research and Development Institute, Agricultural Research Council, National Stored Products Research Institute, Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria, etc.

What are the challenges facing your company?

The major challenge, at the moment, is funding.

What counsel do you have for other researchers in Nigeria?

Researchers in Nigeria need to identify themselves with research institutes around, locally or internationally. Researchers have to strive to source for government intervention to support research and commercialise research findings. They should not easily give up. Efforts could also be made to source for intervention from private partners, investors, institutions and international organisations, particularly in researches that have high potentials to be commercialised and can impact positively on the society.