– As BOF prepares for its Annual Mid-Year Meeting/Public Lecture
As a panacea to the economic downturn in the country, the Board of Fellows (BOF) of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has admonished the Federal Government to explore the expertise of Fellows of professional associations to lift the nation from its current doldrums, which will pave way for national development. Describing the present situation in the country as that of a sinking ship, the BOF says Nigeria needs its best hands to navigate through the stormy waters.
The BOF also craved the indulgence of the Federal Government to the precarious state of the pharmaceutical industry, which used to provide lifeline for pharmacists including Fellows, but now equally fighting for survival due to the unfavourable economic climate in the country and to some extent around the world. Government should also fine tune its policies to ensure the survival of the nation’s comatose pharmaceutical industry.
Announcing their forthcoming Annual Mid-Year Meeting in a press briefing, BOF Chairman, Pharm. (Dr) Joel Adagadzu, said the meeting will hold at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja, from 28 to 29 June 2022. He averred that the BOF through the Mid- Year – Meeting is determined to work closely with the support of relevant stakeholders in finding appropriate remedies that will re-energise, reinvigorate and enhance the self-esteem of the Fellows of PSN, so that they can fully assume their expected position as role models for pharmacists and other professionals and also participate actively in national development.
He disclosed the theme of this year’s Public Lecture, which is the fourth in the series, as “Harnessing the potentials of Fellows of professional associations in Nigeria for national development: The pharmacists perspective”.
According to the BOF Chairman “Nigeria at the moment is likened to a sinking ship that needs its best hands to navigate it through stormy waters and rescue it. Fellows of the PSN like those of other professional bodies constitute a significant part of the country’s useful crop of human resource potentials. No country that hopes to develop and progress can afford to ignore such resources.
“We call on the government of Nigeria and all those occupying positions of authority to focus their searchlight in the direction of Fellows of professional bodies to rescue the nation from its present predicament and for overall national development”.
Adagadzu also noted that the Public Lecture, will be delivered by a legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in the person of Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama. He said the meeting will also feature the usual Meeting of Fellows and a Closing Dinner, during which the BOF will honour some eminent Nigerians for their outstanding contributions to national development and their support to the growth of Pharmacy in Nigeria.
On the choice of the Public Lecture Speaker, Pharm. (Chief) Yetunde Moroundiya, BOF vice-chairman, explained how thorough they have always been in getting the best speakers since the inception of the lecture, as she chronicled the list of their former speakers as follows : Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, founder, Board of Directors, Savannah Centre for Democracy and Development; Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, former DG, NCDC, and Dr Ayodele Lanre Teriba, CEO, Economic Associates Lagos, for the first to third lectures respectively.
Speaking on other activities of the BOF, the Secretary, Chief Lanre Familusi, hinted on the group’s collaboration with relevant agencies in their war against drug abuse. Decrying the height of drug abuse in the country, which is wasting the leaders of tomorrow in the flower of their age, Familusi said the BOF is teaming up with rehabilitation centres, NYSC “No to Drug Abuse Club”, and the NDLEA in order to reduce the spate of the problem.
In her contribution, BOF Treasurer, Pharm (Mrs) Ngozi Obikili, reiterated the aptness of the theme of the Public Lecture, saying rather than government’s importation of expatriates, they should tap into the unused resources of Fellows of professional associations to develop the country.
