The Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria(PSN), FCT Chapter, Pharm. Salamatu Orakwelu, has lamented that Nigeria is still importing basic raw materials for drug production despite having local capacity, blaming high cost of production, taxes, exchange rate and regulatory bottlenecks.

Orakwelu spoke in Abuja during activities to mark World Pharmacists Day 2026, with the theme, Empowering Pharmacists for Healthier Futures.

She said while the Federal Government has put several policies on paper to boost local manufacturing, implementation has remained poor.

“There are a lot of factors. When you talk about policies, both for manufacturing and even in terms of the taxes that are on it, the cost of production, energy and again, some regulatory rules that are not making it a bit easy. But I think the government has started, but most of the policies we see are on paper. They are not implemented yet,” she said.

According to her, creating an enabling environment for pharmacists to fully demonstrate their expertise goes beyond celebration and requires supportive legislation, investment in pharmaceutical development and education, and strengthening the medicine supply chain to support local manufacturing.

“When you are talking about any policy that has to do with medicine, you should get the appropriate expertise to be employed. Because when there is a roundtable discussion and you are going to draw up policies, if you don’t have the right people, it is like putting a square peg in a round hole,” she said.

Orakwelu also lamented that pharmacists are still seen as mere custodians and dispensers of medicines, despite their expanded roles in health education, counselling, vaccination, identification of medication errors and preventive self-care.

” A pharmacist is knowledgeable enough to be able to identify medication errors, from prescribing to dispensing, from monitoring to application,” she said.

She noted that poor integration into the health system and lack of appreciation of pharmaceutical services are fueling manpower shortage and the outward migration of pharmacists.

Earlier, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria(PCN), Pharm. Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, who delivered the keynote address, said the world of healthcare is changing rapidly due to population dynamics, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence and information technology, and pharmacists must rise to the challenge.

Ahmed warned that while artificial intelligence is influencing research, clinical decision-making and medicine management, pharmacists must remain digitally literate without surrendering professional judgement to technology.

“People run now quickly to artificial intelligence to access information. But is that information something you should wholeheartedly rely on? You must recognise that not every message you get from there can take you through. You have a responsibility to do ethical overview of those information or else if anything goes wrong, the artificial intelligence space is not going to answer the question, it is going to be you,” he said.

He disclosed that the Council has closed 1,321 illegal medicine shops in the open drug market in Kano and shut the market for good, adding that efforts are underway to close the Idumota market in Lagos and the Head Bridge market in Onitsha.

Ahmed said empowering pharmacies is not only about advancing the profession but about strengthening the health system’s capacity to ensure that medicines and pharmaceutical care contribute safely and effectively to better health outcomes, stressing the need for good governance, lifelong learning, quality services and appropriate regulation.

In his remark, the Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Michael Oyebanjo, who is also the CEO of Mopson Pharmaceutical Limited, congratulated pharmacists and said compounding remains the foundation that defines pharmacy practice.

He said a pharmacist is trained to convert naturally occurring products from plants, animals and minerals into medicines for the common man and lamented that over-regulation has made it difficult for young graduates to practise immediately after school.

” When you look at the logo of pharmacists, it is pestle and mortar. A pharmacist can be in his community and produce such things. So I want to encourage community pharmacists to do compounding. With his pestle and mortar, he can manufacture. He can produce for the community,” Oyebanjo said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the World Pharmacists Day Planning Committee, Dr. Abubakar Danraka, urged Nigerians to know their pharmacists and take advantage of their availability in communities and hospitals, describing them as the most trusted healthcare professionals.

Danraka said there has been progress in advocacy for recognition of pharmacists’ services, with over 40 federal health institutions implementing the consultant pharmacist cadre, while calling on the remaining institutions to do the needful so Nigerians can benefit from expertise in preventing drug therapy problems.

He identified high cost of medicines as the biggest challenge facing pharmacists, noting that the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), if strengthened with funding to support local manufacturers to attain WHO pre-qualification, could crash medicine prices by more than 50 percent.

“Nigeria has abundance of over 150 local manufacturers but unfortunately less than 10 of them are pre-qualified by the WHO. If the PVAC will support them to attain WHO pre-qualification, the cost of medicine will drop more than 50 percent and that will be when health will be more accessible,” he said.

The 2026 World Pharmacists Day, celebrated annually on September 25, was marked by the launch of fundraising for the completion of the PSN FCT Secretariat Building.

The Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria(PSN), FCT Chapter, Pharm. Salamatu Orakwelu, has lamented that Nigeria is still importing basic raw materials for drug production despite having local capacity, blaming high cost of production, taxes, exchange rate and regulatory bottlenecks.

Orakwelu spoke in Abuja during activities to mark World Pharmacists Day 2026, with the theme, Empowering Pharmacists for Healthier Futures.

She said while the Federal Government has put several policies on paper to boost local manufacturing, implementation has remained poor.

“There are a lot of factors. When you talk about policies, both for manufacturing and even in terms of the taxes that are on it, the cost of production, energy and again, some regulatory rules that are not making it a bit easy. But I think the government has started, but most of the policies we see are on paper. They are not implemented yet,” she said.

According to her, creating an enabling environment for pharmacists to fully demonstrate their expertise goes beyond celebration and requires supportive legislation, investment in pharmaceutical development and education, and strengthening the medicine supply chain to support local manufacturing.

“When you are talking about any policy that has to do with medicine, you should get the appropriate expertise to be employed. Because when there is a roundtable discussion and you are going to draw up policies, if you don’t have the right people, it is like putting a square peg in a round hole,” she said.

Orakwelu also lamented that pharmacists are still seen as mere custodians and dispensers of medicines, despite their expanded roles in health education, counselling, vaccination, identification of medication errors and preventive self-care.

” A pharmacist is knowledgeable enough to be able to identify medication errors, from prescribing to dispensing, from monitoring to application,” she said.

She noted that poor integration into the health system and lack of appreciation of pharmaceutical services are fueling manpower shortage and the outward migration of pharmacists.

Earlier, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria(PCN), Pharm. Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, who delivered the keynote address, said the world of healthcare is changing rapidly due to population dynamics, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence and information technology, and pharmacists must rise to the challenge.

Ahmed warned that while artificial intelligence is influencing research, clinical decision-making and medicine management, pharmacists must remain digitally literate without surrendering professional judgement to technology.

“People run now quickly to artificial intelligence to access information. But is that information something you should wholeheartedly rely on? You must recognise that not every message you get from there can take you through. You have a responsibility to do ethical overview of those information or else if anything goes wrong, the artificial intelligence space is not going to answer the question, it is going to be you,” he said.

He disclosed that the Council has closed 1,321 illegal medicine shops in the open drug market in Kano and shut the market for good, adding that efforts are underway to close the Idumota market in Lagos and the Head Bridge market in Onitsha.

Ahmed said empowering pharmacies is not only about advancing the profession but about strengthening the health system’s capacity to ensure that medicines and pharmaceutical care contribute safely and effectively to better health outcomes, stressing the need for good governance, lifelong learning, quality services and appropriate regulation.

In his remark, the Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Michael Oyebanjo, who is also the CEO of Mopson Pharmaceutical Limited, congratulated pharmacists and said compounding remains the foundation that defines pharmacy practice.

He said a pharmacist is trained to convert naturally occurring products from plants, animals and minerals into medicines for the common man and lamented that over-regulation has made it difficult for young graduates to practise immediately after school.

” When you look at the logo of pharmacists, it is pestle and mortar. A pharmacist can be in his community and produce such things. So I want to encourage community pharmacists to do compounding. With his pestle and mortar, he can manufacture. He can produce for the community,” Oyebanjo said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the World Pharmacists Day Planning Committee, Dr. Abubakar Danraka, urged Nigerians to know their pharmacists and take advantage of their availability in communities and hospitals, describing them as the most trusted healthcare professionals.

Danraka said there has been progress in advocacy for recognition of pharmacists’ services, with over 40 federal health institutions implementing the consultant pharmacist cadre, while calling on the remaining institutions to do the needful so Nigerians can benefit from expertise in preventing drug therapy problems.

He identified high cost of medicines as the biggest challenge facing pharmacists, noting that the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), if strengthened with funding to support local manufacturers to attain WHO pre-qualification, could crash medicine prices by more than 50 percent.

“Nigeria has abundance of over 150 local manufacturers but unfortunately less than 10 of them are pre-qualified by the WHO. If the PVAC will support them to attain WHO pre-qualification, the cost of medicine will drop more than 50 percent and that will be when health will be more accessible,” he said.

The 2026 World Pharmacists Day, celebrated annually on September 25, was marked by the launch of fundraising for the completion of the PSN FCT Secretariat Building.

The Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria(PSN), FCT Chapter, Pharm. Salamatu Orakwelu, has lamented that Nigeria is still importing basic raw materials for drug production despite having local capacity, blaming high cost of production, taxes, exchange rate and regulatory bottlenecks.

Orakwelu spoke in Abuja during activities to mark World Pharmacists Day 2026, with the theme, Empowering Pharmacists for Healthier Futures.

She said while the Federal Government has put several policies on paper to boost local manufacturing, implementation has remained poor.

“There are a lot of factors. When you talk about policies, both for manufacturing and even in terms of the taxes that are on it, the cost of production, energy and again, some regulatory rules that are not making it a bit easy. But I think the government has started, but most of the policies we see are on paper. They are not implemented yet,” she said.

According to her, creating an enabling environment for pharmacists to fully demonstrate their expertise goes beyond celebration and requires supportive legislation, investment in pharmaceutical development and education, and strengthening the medicine supply chain to support local manufacturing.

“When you are talking about any policy that has to do with medicine, you should get the appropriate expertise to be employed. Because when there is a roundtable discussion and you are going to draw up policies, if you don’t have the right people, it is like putting a square peg in a round hole,” she said.

Orakwelu also lamented that pharmacists are still seen as mere custodians and dispensers of medicines, despite their expanded roles in health education, counselling, vaccination, identification of medication errors and preventive self-care.

” A pharmacist is knowledgeable enough to be able to identify medication errors, from prescribing to dispensing, from monitoring to application,” she said.

She noted that poor integration into the health system and lack of appreciation of pharmaceutical services are fueling manpower shortage and the outward migration of pharmacists.

Earlier, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria(PCN), Pharm. Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, who delivered the keynote address, said the world of healthcare is changing rapidly due to population dynamics, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence and information technology, and pharmacists must rise to the challenge.

Ahmed warned that while artificial intelligence is influencing research, clinical decision-making and medicine management, pharmacists must remain digitally literate without surrendering professional judgement to technology.

“People run now quickly to artificial intelligence to access information. But is that information something you should wholeheartedly rely on? You must recognise that not every message you get from there can take you through. You have a responsibility to do ethical overview of those information or else if anything goes wrong, the artificial intelligence space is not going to answer the question, it is going to be you,” he said.

He disclosed that the Council has closed 1,321 illegal medicine shops in the open drug market in Kano and shut the market for good, adding that efforts are underway to close the Idumota market in Lagos and the Head Bridge market in Onitsha.

Ahmed said empowering pharmacies is not only about advancing the profession but about strengthening the health system’s capacity to ensure that medicines and pharmaceutical care contribute safely and effectively to better health outcomes, stressing the need for good governance, lifelong learning, quality services and appropriate regulation.

In his remark, the Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Michael Oyebanjo, who is also the CEO of Mopson Pharmaceutical Limited, congratulated pharmacists and said compounding remains the foundation that defines pharmacy practice.

He said a pharmacist is trained to convert naturally occurring products from plants, animals and minerals into medicines for the common man and lamented that over-regulation has made it difficult for young graduates to practise immediately after school.

” When you look at the logo of pharmacists, it is pestle and mortar. A pharmacist can be in his community and produce such things. So I want to encourage community pharmacists to do compounding. With his pestle and mortar, he can manufacture. He can produce for the community,” Oyebanjo said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the World Pharmacists Day Planning Committee, Dr. Abubakar Danraka, urged Nigerians to know their pharmacists and take advantage of their availability in communities and hospitals, describing them as the most trusted healthcare professionals.

Danraka said there has been progress in advocacy for recognition of pharmacists’ services, with over 40 federal health institutions implementing the consultant pharmacist cadre, while calling on the remaining institutions to do the needful so Nigerians can benefit from expertise in preventing drug therapy problems.

He identified high cost of medicines as the biggest challenge facing pharmacists, noting that the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), if strengthened with funding to support local manufacturers to attain WHO pre-qualification, could crash medicine prices by more than 50 percent.

“Nigeria has abundance of over 150 local manufacturers but unfortunately less than 10 of them are pre-qualified by the WHO. If the PVAC will support them to attain WHO pre-qualification, the cost of medicine will drop more than 50 percent and that will be when health will be more accessible,” he said.

The 2026 World Pharmacists Day, celebrated annually on September 25, was marked by the launch of fundraising for the completion of the PSN FCT Secretariat Building.