Fake drugs will continue to be rampant in Nigerian markets until… ― FG

 

THE Federal Government, on Tuesday, said Nigeria would continue to be battling with the menace of fake drugs until the country begins local production through the pharmaceutical companies.

 

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu made this known in Abuja at the ongoing Annual National Conference and Scientific Meeting of the Nigeria Association of Pharmacists in Academia (NAPA) with the theme: “Sustainable Access to Quality Assured Medicines and National Security.”

He said Nigeria could not continue to be playing host to fake drugs and charged the pharmacists to start the production locally so as to control the importation of such drugs into the country.

According to him, the pharmacists have a very important role to play because the drugs we use in Nigeria are imported and that should not be. When you are talking about fake drugs, don’t you think that it would have been easier for us to control it when produced locally?

“If we produce locally because we know those industries that are doing it and if there are fake drugs, we will just go there and stop them. Don’t you see how porous our borders are? How can you be really sure that they will not be bringing fake drugs from outside? So, you have a very important role to play in this area. We want to make sure we reduce importation of drugs into Nigeria.

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“I want you also to see how you can help revise the curriculum so that when you train our future pharmacists, you train them to be entrepreneurs as well as producers, manufacturers, and they will understand the pharmacy. I also want them to also have the spirit because pharmacy is a profession that can be practised very easily,” he added.

Speaking on some of the major focuses of the Presidential Executive Order 5, the minister said the Federal Government would not allow any foreign professionals to practice in Nigeria without registration by the appropriate registration body.

Earlier, the National Chairman of NAPA, Professor Martins Emeje said Nigeria is at the crossroads of its future, asking that: “do we have the right instruments for teaching and moulding the innocent minds parents entrust in us? Have we chosen the right instruments for Research and Development (R&D)? Do we have recovery programmes? How can we secure lasting and sustainable growth? How do we produce long-term value creation?

“NAPA’s answer will be: through innovation created on the platform of what I call current Good Teaching and Research Practice.

“The conference this year assumes a colloquial format; hard discussions geared towards developing a roadmap for achieving sustainable access to quality-assured medicines, and I mean, medicines produced in Nigeria by Nigerians would be developed and published in a summit book at the end of this conference.

“We have all seen that the issue of ”innovation” has grown in importance. But we believe it is not only a question of where the new growth should come from or in which specific fields, Nigeria needs more science, research and development,” he stated.