Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has gave a marching order to enforcement and regulatory agencies to shut down drug stores of traders selling wholesale drugs in the open market at Sabon Gari area of the State.
Ganduje gave the order at the recent commissioning of the Kanawa Coordinated Warehouse Centre (CWC) otherwise known as Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje Pharmaceutical Centre in Kano.
Governor Ganduje stated, “All other areas for wholesale of drugs in the state will be closed down forthwith and those found wanting will be taken for prosecution.
“This is a complete regulated market. It is the only legal place that you can sell wholesale drugs. The Federal Government has guidelines for the sale of drugs that are healthy and we promised ourselves in 2015 when we came in that we will change the vulnerable situation in the sale of counterfeit, illegal and fake drugs that Kano finds itself. With this commissioning today, we have reached a major milestone in the battle to control illegal and fake drugs.”
The multi-billion naira facility, which was developed under a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement between Brains and Hammers Limited and the Kano State Government, is the Phase 1 of the larger 117-acre Kano Economic City (KEC).
In their goodwill messages, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire and Director-General, NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeleye, praised Governor Ganduje for becoming a model for other states.
Ehanire said, “History will be kind to your administration for relocating all the stakeholders to a regulated drug facility. The plan was that we will not close down the open market shops without providing an alternative. That is how we came about the CWC. It has never existed in Nigeria.”
Prof. Adeyeye on her part said the Kano CWC will make NAFDAC job easier as “This is going to be a one-stop spot for us. Because of this edifice, we will have more confidence that the drugs we use are of good quality.”
The Secretary of the NDLEA, who represented the chairman/chief executive of the anti-narcotics agency, Mohammed Buba Marwa, commended the Kano State Government for being the first state to carry out Drug Integrity Test for political office holders and also for supporting the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA).
The journey to the CWC which reached an epoch with the commissioning of the Kanawa Pharmaceutical Coordinated Wholesale Centre also known as Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje Pharmaceutical Centre in Kano recently may not be an end in itself, but serve as a wake-up call for quick implementation of the project in the remaining states fo the Federation.
The Federal Government in 2003 mooted the idea of a Coordinated Warehouse Centre (CWC) for pharmaceuticals to stop the chaotic and dangerous trade in drugs in the open markets
Messages of support and encouragement from the Minister of Trade and Investment, Registrar, Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, Kano Pharmaceutical Partners and Director General, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) among others were also read at the event which attracted the presence of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, a major stakeholder and financier of the project, Jaiz Bank, whose serving Managing Director, Dr. Sirajo Salisu, along with his predecessor and members of the Kano State Executive Council.
Chairman of the KEC, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu Chiroma described the Coordinated Pharmaceutical Wholesale Centre as a complex of 2100 shops with warehouses, that will house businesses of all pharmaceutical products in Kano under the control of regulatory bodies such as Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria(PCN), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), and NAFDAC.
