Some pharmacy distribution chains and other stakeholders in Nigeria might be forced to upgrade or lose their licenses as the federal government consented to the new pharmacy law.
On Monday, the Chairman of the governing council of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), Ahmed Tijjani Mora, confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has empowered the organization to regulate all stakeholders in the pharmacy distribution chain, OsunDaily News reports.
Mora who spoke yesterday during the presentation of the gazetted PCN (Establishment) Act 2022 in Abuja, said the PCN Bill signed into law by President Buhari in August had empowered the registrar to revoke licenses and regulate all stakeholders involved in the pharmacy distribution chain.
The stakeholders according to him include pharmacy technicians, pharmacists, patent medicine vendors, manufacturers, importers, and wholesalers among others.
Mora commended the incumbent government and all persons who made the passage of the bill into law possible.
The PCN Chair said fines for offences in the old act ranged from N250- N1,000 but had been increased to between N250,000 and N2,000,000 in the new act.
“The fines are meant to act as a deterrent for people not to fall short of the minimum standard expected from them. The council is a regulatory agency. We are not a profit-making organisation and we are corrective, not punitive. We are dealing with drugs, which makes the difference between life and death. That is why we must be regulated,” Daily Trust quoted Mora as saying.
He added that the Federal High Court under the new law had the jurisdiction to hear and determine criminal and civil matters.
This article was originally published on OsunDaily News
