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The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) has intensified its nationwide regulatory enforcement, shutting down more than 5,000 pharmaceutical facilities across 11 states in 2026, over various violations of regulations.
The Registrar of the Council, Pharm. Babashehu Ahmed, disclosed this while speaking at the plenary session of the ongoing 99th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), tagged IJELE 2026, at the International Convention Centre, Awka, Anambra State.
Ahmed, who spoke on “Building Stronger Health Systems through Pharmaceutical Governance and Regulation,” said the enforcement exercise was part of efforts to sanitise Nigeria’s drug distribution system and ensure that pharmaceutical premises operate within approved regulatory standards.
Providing details of the council’s enforcement activities, he disclosed that 9,908 facilities were visited between 29 March and 16 October, 2026, including 1,600 pharmacies and 5,698 patent and proprietary medicine vendors.
He said the exercise uncovered widespread violations among operators, particularly pharmacies operating without pharmacists on duty and patent medicine vendors conducting activities outside the scope of their licences.
According to him, 771 of the 1,600 pharmacies visited were found to have various compliance deficiencies, including situations where pharmacists were absent while sales personnel were left to attend to customers.
He also disclosed that 2,610 patent and proprietary medicine outlets had never been registered and were operating illegally, adding that they were permanently shut down, adding that another 3,257 licensed patent and proprietary medicine vendors were found to be operating outside the scope of their licences and were also closed.
The registrar said the council had taken further steps to investigate serious violations, with 292 premises subjected to investigation, comprising 51 pharmacies and 241 patent and proprietary medicine vendors.
He stressed that regulatory enforcement was not simply about visiting facilities and announcing closures but also involved sustained investigations and legal action to ensure that offenders were held accountable.
Ahmed disclosed that the council had generated about 60 litigations in the course of its enforcement activities and spent approximately N50 million on legal proceedings within the year, adding that the council had secured favourable outcomes in the cases mentioned, despite the financial burden of defending its regulatory authority in court.
He, however, maintained that the responsibility for effective regulation should not rest solely on the national council, urging state governments and relevant regulatory committees to strengthen enforcement within their jurisdictions.
He disclosed that the PCN released N450 million to Pharmaceutical Inspection Committees and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Committees between January and September 2026 to support their regulatory responsibilities across the states.
Ahmed expressed concern that illegal pharmaceutical operations continued to thrive despite the existence of these structures and the financial support provided by the council. He questioned the effectiveness of some state committees, particularly where illegal premises continued to operate without appropriate regulatory intervention.
On the operational challenges confronting the PCN, the registrar said the council maintained 44 offices across the country and faced substantial expenditure on electricity and other essential services.
He disclosed that diesel alone cost the council approximately N12.5 million monthly, while electricity charges for its Abuja headquarters under Band A is between N3 million and N3.5 million monthly.
He identified significant differences in the level of illegal pharmaceutical activities across states, citing figures from the council’s enforcement assessment which showed that some states had considerably higher levels of violations than others.
Ahmed said the council had also encouraged state governments to use funds made available to their regulatory structures for location approvals, routine inspections and enforcement activities.
He commended Lagos, Anambra and Nasarawa states for commencing enforcement exercises, urging other states to follow their example, saying coordinated action by the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, alongside the national council’s enforcement activities, will significantly strengthen pharmaceutical regulation.
He said the PCN’s regulatory responsibility covered all aspects of the pharmaceutical sector, from manufacturing and importation to distribution, retailing and patent medicine operations.
The registrar maintained that regulation was the connecting force among the six building blocks of a functional health system identified by the World Health Organisation, including leadership and governance, health workforce, essential medicines, service delivery, health information and sustainable financing.
He said the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical sector should ultimately be judged by the confidence Nigerians have in the medicines they use, the professionals who attend to them and the institutions responsible for protecting public health.
“No single institution can hold up all the six building blocks alone”, Babashehu said, stressing that building a stronger health system required collective responsibility among regulators, policymakers, pharmacists, industry leaders, academics and other stakeholders.
