Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, president, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and other eminent pharmacists, including Gbenga Falabi, immediate past national chairman, National Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP); and Pharm. Moses Oluwalade, managing director, Miraflash Nigeria Limited, have urged pharmacy students across the country to imbibe leadership ideals and skills in the course of undergoing their programme and after graduation.
Speaking at the 43rd Annual National Convention of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria Students (PANS), held at the New Auditorium, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State, the PSN president advised the students who thronged the venue that familiarising themselves with leadership principles and practice, in addition to their academic pursuit, would distinguish them in the course of their studies and later in the workplace.
Yakasai further counselled them to disregard the lure of social vices, as well as insubordination to constituted authority.
Also speaking, the managing director of Miraflash, Pharm. Oluwalade, urged the students to embrace diligence, which, he said, is the pathway to success.
According to him, leadership skills are essential in guiding executives to make thoughtful decisions about their organisations’ missions and goals, as well as in properly allocating resources to achieve set objectives.
While describing the theme of the programme, “Sowing the Seeds of Professional Impact: Working to Transcend the Generations of Pharmacists to Come”, as apt and timely, the Miraflash boss, noted that essential leadership traits to imbibe include honesty, confidence, commitment, and creativity.
“As pharmacists, you are practising one of the foremost professions in the world; so, I am urging you today to raise your head and avoid intimidation that may come from any quarter as you are not supposed to be a second class citizen as far as the healthcare family is concerned. I also want to urge you to be proactive, plan ahead, be courageous, be flexible and don’t do things haphazardly,” he advised
In his keynote address, Pharm. Gbenga Falabi, attributed his success in pharmacy practice to diligence and discipline, adding that in addressing the theme of the programme, it was necessary to review the seeds planted yesterday and the impact they had made.
Falabi, however, noted that some of the major challenges facing the practice today include in-house rivalry and identity crisis, adding that pharmacists today now fight for recognition.
The highpoints of the event were the launch of Pharmedia magazine, an annual journal of PANS by some of the invited guests, and the presentation of award plaques to the dignitaries present.
The national convention, which is an annual event of the national secretariat of PANS, which currently has its secretariat at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Sagamu Campus, had in attendance 14 schools of pharmacy across the country, including the host, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU); University of Uyo; Nnamdi Azikiwe University; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Delta State University; University of Ilorin, Kwara State; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State; University of Ibadan, Oyo State; Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto; Kogi State University; University of Maiduguri; University of Port Harcourt; and Niger Delta University.
 and other eminent pharmacists, including Gbenga Falabi, immediate past national chairman, National Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP)){kind=link}