Health
Pharmacy regulation suffering without PCN council — Pharmacists
Pharmacists have raised concerns over the prolonged delay in the inauguration of the Governing Council of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria.
The experts said the development has affected critical regulatory functions in the pharmacy sector for the past three years.
The Chairman of the PSN, Lagos State branch, Pharm. Olaitan Ogunlade, made the assertion while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Pharmacy Week held at Detutu Events Centre, Ogudu GRA, Lagos.
Ogunlade said the absence of a properly constituted council had affected the accreditation of training facilities, disciplinary processes and other vital aspects of pharmacy regulation,
He urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to immediately inaugurate the council in line with the existing law.
“We have been very patient even when we never solicited the amendment of the PCN Act 2022. In the last three years, full and lawful accreditation of training facilities, disciplinary measures and vital practice matters have suffered,” he said.
The PSN Lagos chairman called on the FMoH to act without further delay, arguing that the PCN should be allowed to perform its statutory responsibilities while any proposed amendment to its enabling legislation could be addressed subsequently.
He said, “The PSN (Lagos State) on behalf of Pharmacists calls on the FMOH to immediately inaugurate the PCN in alignment with the existing PCN Act, like the Government has done with some sister regulatory councils in Health in recent days.”
PUNCH Healthwise reports that the PCN is responsible for regulating pharmacy education, training and practice, as well as pharmacy premises and other cadres, including pharmacy technicians and patent and proprietary medicine vendors.
Ogunlade stressed that the council’s responsibilities were critical to protecting patients and maintaining standards across the pharmaceutical sector, noting that pharmacy regulation required professional expertise because of the risks associated with medicines.
According to him, the PCN has three major core mandates covering pharmacy practice, the training of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other support staff, as well as disciplinary matters.
He said effective regulation was particularly important because the council oversees activities across the pharmaceutical value chain, including pharmacies, patent medicine shops and other pharmaceutical premises.
The PSN Lagos chairman also raised concerns over the proliferation of unregistered pharmaceutical premises in the country,
He claimed that Nigeria now had more than three million unregistered premises compared with fewer than 50,000 registered premises across manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers and patent and proprietary medicine vendors.
He linked the situation to the historical decentralisation of the licensing of patent and proprietary medicine vendors to local government areas, arguing that the arrangement had contributed to the expansion of poorly regulated pharmaceutical outlets.
Ogunlade said, “This remains the foundation for the explosion of unregistered pharmaceutical premises in Nigeria.”
He added that the scale of the problem exposed Nigerians to practices that could undermine Good Pharmacy Practice.
He argued that the PCN Governing Council should be composed largely of professionals with expertise in pharmacy practice, regulation, academia and pharmaceutical administration, alongside representatives of relevant government agencies and pharmacy technicians.
The pharmacist said the inauguration of the council should not be held back by proposed amendments to the PCN Act, insisting that regulatory activities must continue in the public interest.
“If there would be amendment of professional regulatory laws, we shall join others to cross that bridge in the foreseeable future, even as PCN exercises full width of its regulatory powers in the public interest,” he stated.
He urged the FG to urgently resolve the situation, warning that effective pharmacy regulation remained essential to ensuring safe pharmaceutical practice, strengthening professional discipline and protecting Nigerians from unsafe and improperly regulated medicine outlets.
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