FG, others move to end open drug markets
The federal government has intensified efforts to sanitise Nigeria’s chaotic drug distribution system by relocating open drug markets to regulated Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWCs), officials have said. Pharmacist Bulama Yakubu, Head of Drug and Vaccine Development and Drug Distribution System at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, disclosed this while speaking at a […]
The federal government has intensified efforts to sanitise Nigeria’s chaotic drug distribution system by relocating open drug markets to regulated Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWCs), officials have said.
Pharmacist Bulama Yakubu, Head of Drug and Vaccine Development and Drug Distribution System at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, disclosed this while speaking at a strategic health convening in Abuja.
“It is clear that once CWCs are fully established, drugs will only be sourced from manufacturers or authorised importers,” he said, adding that this structure will eliminate substandard and falsified drugs from circulation.
He said that the Presidential Committee on Pharmaceutical Sector Reform, established in 2003 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, identified drug distribution guidelines as a key strategy to address the country’s long-standing issues with fake and substandard medicines.
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According to him, four states – Anambra, Lagos, Kano, and Abia, have been earmarked for the first phase of the CWC initiative.
“In Anambra, the groundbreaking was done in 2022. In Kano, the CWC was commissioned in February 2024 and traders from the notorious Sabon Gari market have already relocated,” he said.
“We’re progressing in Lagos and Abia too. Other states like Ebonyi, Imo, Oyo, and Kaduna have also applied,” he added.
Yakubu added that the CWCs will be equipped with regulatory outposts, quality control labs, and police presence to ensure thorough oversight.
“If a drug doesn’t pass quality assurance, it will not leave the centre. That’s our guarantee to the Nigerian people,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), Pharmacist Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, represented by a senior official, said the Council is committed to branding certified Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) as part of efforts to bring informal drug vendors into a regulated framework.
The Managing Director of the Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, during the Promoting Accreditation for Community Health Services (PACS) Project review, said Nigeria faces “fragmented and, at times, chaotic drug distribution system.”
SFH noted that PACS flagship initiative supported by MSD for Mothers, is central to the reforms being championed in Nigeria’s informal pharmaceutical sector. The two-year project is implemented by a consortium comprising the Society for Family Health (SFH) and the Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SCIDaR), with the aim of improving the quality of care provided by community pharmacists and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs).
The project focuses on strengthening the adherence of PPMVs to the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN)’s accreditation programme through the implementation of three incentive mechanisms, access to microcredit, access to quality medicines, and business branding.
Idogho noted that the “PACS project has demonstrated that when we digitise supply chains and align procurement with verified sources, we can reduce the prevalence of substandard medicines.”
He called for the institutionalisation of insights gained from the PACS project and urged government and private sector stakeholders to shift from pilot projects to full-scale policy implementation.
On her part, the Country Director of MSD for Mothers, Iyadunni Olubode, said their involvement in the project stems from the link between poor-quality medicines and maternal mortality.
The PACS project, implemented by Society for Family Health and Solina Centre for International Development and Research with funding from MSD for Mothers, has introduced digital tools and vendor-managed inventory systems to boost medicine quality at the grassroots.