Poised to cement and expand partnership with key institutions in Nigeria, the President, Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA) Inc, Dr Anthony Ikeme, paid courtesy visits to nine key institutions in Nigeria, introducing the association’s 10 year strategy plan and other initiatives to them.
The organisational and institutional partners visited during his trip to Nigeria are: Diaspora Unit of the Federal Ministry of Health; Food and Drug Services Department of the Federal Ministry of Health; Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM); Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN); Nigerian institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD); National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC); Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN); NAIP and Bloom Public Health.
The NAPPSA President, who was graciously accompanied on the courtesy visits by the former President of PSN, Pharm. Azubike Okwor; President of Africa Health Project, Dr Ali Johnson Onoja; and NAPPSA Board Member, Gbenga Olajide, expressed the delight of the group in nurturing their partnerships with the primary purpose of expanding their reach and impacting wider audience.
He also seized the opportunity to introduce NAPPSA’S 10-Year strategy plan to each of the partner visited, while highlighting some significant milestones in NAPPSA history. Some of the strategy plan are: The launch of the NAPPSA Journal: AJPPS; The launch of the NAPPSA News Magazine: NAPPSA Digest; NAPPSA Endowment Fund; Prospect of a NAPPSA house and the positive impact that will have on Nigeria’s brand and image; Proposed NAPPSA Research Institute, among others.
“With the goodwill NAPPSA has built over the years and faced with multiple opportunities for making significant impact both in the USA and Nigeria, it is clear that the most efficient way to extend our reach and take advantage of the multiple opportunities for positive impact is through collaboration and partnerships.
“Collaboration and partnerships mean that we can have access to new resources, reach beyond our primary audience and have positive influence on our partners’ programmes and initiatives. It is this understanding that informed the recent outreach efforts by the NAPPSA president”, he said.
Ikeme highlighted major achievements of the association to include: negotiation of reasonable terms for the US Pharmacy licensure reciprocity with PCN; coordination of online registration for licensure reciprocity; organisation of workshops for deans of Nigerian Pharmacy Schools; Facilitating the implementation of the PharmD programme; Active participation in the development of PharmD curriculum in Nigeria; creation of scholarship to Pharmacy students;creation of the B2B business owners platform, and others.
Leaders of the institutions visited expressed their appreciation to the NAPPSA team and made various commitments towards the actualisation of the 10-Year strategy plan.
While NAFDAC and PCN made commitments to explore the possibility of publishing articles in the maiden of the NAPPSA Journal, AJPPS, they are pledged to utilise the NAPPSA Digest for disseminating institutional updates to the Diasporan community, as well as promised to attend the 2021 NAPPSA conference in Baltimore.
NIPRD also showed interest in deepening their partnership with NAPPSA, while NAIP proposed next steps in the implementation of the MOU with NAPPSA and Bloom Public Health also invited NAPPSA to participate in a planned Nigerian Pharmacy Sector Gap Analysis Project.
