Ogun Seals 383 Illegal Medicine Shops

The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria has sealed 383 medicine shops in Ogun State. They did this for not following the rules. They warned that illegal drug shops are a big risk to public health and national security.

Suleiman Chiroma, who heads the Enforcement Department of the Council, shared this news on Friday. He spoke during a press conference in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State. He was presenting results from a four-day enforcement operation across the state.

Chiroma said the operation was directed by Ibrahim Ahmed, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Council. The operation covered 11 local government areas and involved checking 738 medicine shops.

He said, “A total of 738 premises were inspected during the exercise, comprising 277 pharmacies, 288 patent and proprietary medicine vendor stores and 173 unregistered or illegal outlets.

“At the end of the exercise, 383 premises were sealed for various offences. These comprised 123 pharmacies, 87 patent medicine stores and all the 173 illegal premises identified during the operation. In addition, three compliance directives were issued.”

The enforcement operation included Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Odeda, Obafemi-Owode, Ifo, Ado-Odo/Ota, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Ikenne, Ijebu North-East and Ewekoro local government areas.

Chiroma pointed out the main violations found during the operation. These included operating without a valid Pharmacy Council of Nigeria license, poor storage conditions, allowing unauthorized access to controlled medicines, obstructing inspectors, cooking in medicine shops, and illegally training apprentices.

He warned that these problems can endanger lives and affect the country’s drug distribution system. He added, “These practices pose a grave threat to public health and constitute risks to national security through the potential diversion of controlled medicines into criminal networks.”

Chiroma said dispensing medicines by untrained people and poor storage of medicines can lead to treatment failure, antimicrobial resistance, and even deaths. He said these outcomes can increase healthcare costs for patients and damage public trust in the health system.

He explained that the operation followed the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 2022. This law gives the Council the power to regulate pharmacy practice and license medicine shops all over the country.

He noted that 23 percent of the shops checked were operating illegally. Most of the unregistered shops were found outside the Abeokuta area.