A former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria establishment bill 2021, aimed at regulating the pharmaceutical industry and checking the proliferation of sub-standard medicines in the country.
Ohuabunwa made the call while addressing newsmen at the end of the organisation’s 94th Annual National Conference held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
The conference was themed, ‘COVID-19 lessons: Broadening and strengthening the Nigerian pharmaceutical and health sector’.
Ohuabunwa said the law was meant to repeal an earlier one called Pharmacist Council of Nigeria law which regulated pharmacists only.
He said, “The old law is called Pharmacists Council of Nigeria. Some of these miscreants who sell drugs, open shops, go to court and say this law only covers pharmacists; it does not cover them.
“But the new one is Pharmacy Council of Nigeria. This new law has pharmacy which is broader, anywhere drug is made and not just pharmacists as professionals,” he explained.
Ohuabunwa expressed happiness that the President during the country’s 61st independence day speech stated his readiness to support industries, saying signing the law which was since approved by the Senate and House of Representatives was the way to go.
He said, “The president has shown that he has finally gotten interested in industry. He spent five minutes of his independence day anniversary talking about support to the industry.
“A very fundamental support, the lowest hanging one, is sign the PCN Establishment Bill 2021, and then we will be sure that we are ready to start dealing with sub-standard and falsified medicines.”
He added that the new law would strengthen the pharmacy council’s ability to regulate the environment.
At the end of the conference, Prof. Cyril Usifo was elected the new president of the society; Binji Ibrahim, deputy president, north; Udeorah Egbuna, deputy president, south; and Gafar Madehin, national secretary.