By: Manoah Kikekon
ABUJA— Key figures in the federal and state governments have rallied behind community pharmacists, urging stronger financial and structural backing to crash the cost of essential medicines and expand healthcare access across Nigeria.
The powerful call to action was issued at the 45th Annual National Scientific Conference of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN). Held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, the high-profile summit ran under the theme “UNITY 2026: From Local Pharmacy Practice to Global Impact, Managing Complex Healthcare Systems.”
Representing House of Representatives Speaker Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health Institutions, Hon. Amos Magaji, praised community pharmacists for promoting safe and responsible medicine use nationwide.
Echoing this sentiment, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, highlighted community pharmacists as vital frontline professionals who are indispensable in tackling medicine affordability and accessibility for vulnerable populations.
Akume pointed to recent interventions by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration, notably the Executive Order suspending import duties, tariffs, and VAT on raw pharmaceutical materials and active ingredients to stimulate domestic manufacturing. However, he admitted that gaps remain, particularly in rural regions.
"We must ensure that pharmaceutical products available to Nigerians remain safe, effective, affordable, and of assured quality,"* Akume stated, urging pharmacists to intensify the fight against counterfeit medications and partner with government initiatives to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Representing Niger State Governor Umaru Bago, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Murtala Muhammad Bagana, advocated for public-private partnerships to integrate community pharmacies directly into primary healthcare networks and state health insurance schemes.
Governor Bago maintained that such structural integration provides a practical pathway to subsidizing retail medicine costs and easing the financial burden on everyday families.
Beyond government partnerships, the ACPN used its final communiqué to sound the alarm on a crippling brain drain that has seen over 9,500 pharmacists leave Nigeria in recent years. To secure the nation's drug infrastructure, the association submitted three major structural proposals to the Federal Government:
1. Stiffer Penalties for Counterfeiting: An amendment to the Fake Drug Act introducing mandatory 20-year prison sentences for first-time offenders and life imprisonment with total asset forfeiture for repeat dealers.
2. National Drug Management Agency: The creation of a dedicated agency to institutionalize the Drug Revolving Fund and manage the 10% essential medicines allocation under the Basic National Health Provision Fund directly, bypassing intermediaries.
3. National Postgraduate College of Pharmacy: Establishing a local postgraduate institution to cut down on expensive foreign training costs and preserve foreign exchange.
The week-long conference concluded with the election of a new National Executive Council for the 2026/2027 term, with Pharm. Ezeh Ambrose Igwekamma officially emerging as the National Chairman.
In his inaugural address, Igwekamma pledged a transformative tenure, calling on policymakers to quickly implement the summit's resolutions to transform community pharmacies into unstoppable pillars of affordable, world-class healthcare delivery in Nigeria.