Pharmaceutical Council Worries Over Unsafe Drug Storage

The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) has raised the alarm over widespread unsafe drug storage practices across the country, warning that many medicines sold in open markets and unregulated outlets have already lost potency long before their expiry dates.

Speaking during a press briefing at the PCN Lagos Zonal Office, the council’s head of enforcement, Dr. Suleiman Chiroma, said recent inspections revealed shocking levels of negligence in drug handling and preservation, endangering public health and eroding trust in the healthcare system.

According to him, “Drugs are chemical substances that deteriorate when exposed to poor conditions. A medicine marked to expire in four years may lose its potency within one year if stored wrongly.”
He lamented that in many outlets, medicines were found kept in non-ventilated shops without refrigeration, temperature control, or qualified pharmacists to supervise their sale.

As part of an intensified national enforcement campaign, the Council sealed 498 medicine outlets in Lagos State for violating pharmaceutical regulations. The exercise covered 845 premises, including 483 pharmacies, 162 patent medicine shops, and 200 illegal drug outlets. Among these, 215 pharmacies, 83 patent medicine stores, and 200 unregistered shops were sealed, while 29 others were issued compliance directives.

Chiroma particularly cited the sale of temperature-sensitive drugs such as insulin and vaccines in open markets, describing it as a major public health risk. “Some of these products require refrigeration but are displayed on open shelves or in roadside kiosks. When patients use degraded drugs, treatment fails, resistance develops, and lives are lost,” he said.

The enforcement chief disclosed that the PCN has shut down major unregulated drug markets in Idumota and Ikorodu, relocating compliant operators to newly established Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWCs) equipped with cold rooms, air conditioning, and monitoring offices for PCN, NAFDAC, and the police.

He further warned that hawking and street sales of medicines remain illegal, noting that the Council is working with federal and state task forces to clamp down on violators. “Drug hawking is dangerous and unlawful. We are committed to ending it,” he stressed.

“We want every Nigerian to walk into any pharmacy with confidence, knowing the medicines there are safe, genuine, and properly stored. Our goal is to make the nation’s pharmaceutical system world-class and that begins with strict compliance,” Chiroma affirmed.

Dr. Taiwo Filusi, director of the PCN Lagos Zonal Office, refuted allegations of ethnic bias in the Council’s licensing process, describing such claims as false and malicious. “Our operations are transparent and based purely on merit and compliance with laid-down standards. The majority of patent medicine vendors in Lagos are actually from the South-East, yet they operate freely because we do not discriminate,” Filusi said.

He explained that premises are licensed only after passing both location and facility inspections, regardless of applicants’ backgrounds, and that over-the-counter drugs may only be handled by trained pharmacy technicians under supervision.