The Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), has organised a groundbreaking reception in honour of its new chairman, Pharm. Babakandzhi Adagadzu.
Adagadzu emerged chairman, Board of Follows, (PSN) in November 2021 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the Annual National Conference of the PSN.
The chairman, who retired from civil service in 2011 as director, Food and Drug Services, have served in several Boards of institutions including Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, Abuja University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) Idu – Abuja, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Abuja, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) Abuja and the Nigeria Anti-Doping Committee (NADC).
Describing his emergence as a feat worth celebrating, the Planning Committee Chairman and BOF Coordinator, Abuja and Nasarawa state, Pharm Festus Iserhienrhien, in his welcome address, noted that it was the first time the BOF Chairmanship was crossing the Murtala Mohammed bridge in Lokoja to the North and as such worth celebrating particularly with the tension associated with the campaigns prior to the elections.
Adagadzu, who was full of excitement over the honour and love showered on him by fellows and friends, expressed his desire to see the country becoming self-sufficient in drug production.
He, however, frowned that the country has continued to import raw materials for drug production, stating that access to funds, especially foreign exchange, for acquisition of needed machinery and raw materials for local production was key to achieving self-sufficiency in local drug production.
“It is high time Nigeria is also able to engage in the production of primary raw materials. We cannot keep importing everything,” Adagadzu stressed.
Hinting on the Board’s willingness to work with the PSN and other groups, the chairman said “Our main plan is to see how we can get the local industry to increase production beyond 30 per cent, so that the country will become sufficient in drug production. It’s not something that we will achieve in one day but we have planned to work together.
“If the industry can have access to funds, especially foreign exchange, they will be able to bring in the needed machinery and raw materials to produce locally.”
On the lessons from the covid-19 pandemic, Adagadzu said if the government does not learn from what has happened, then the country has a long way to go.
He, however, said that “It is our intention to do our best to remind the government of its responsibilities, we shall work together as a team to see that the pharmaceutical industry sees a better day.”
A special guest at the event, former Governor of Niger Governor, Babangida Aliyu, urged the fellows to put their hands together to move the industry forward, saying there was a need to bridge the pharmaceutical workforce gap.
“There is a need for more pharmacists in the country because in every plant, flower, there is medicine and the pharmacists are the ones that can help us to turn these plants into medicine.”
The former governor, who is a close friend of Pharm. Adagadzu, also urged the pharmacists to sponsor people at the state and federal level to take up political positions. “From your profession, you need to find a way to sponsor people at the state and federal levels. Many professionals see politics as dirty, it will remain dirty if professionals do not come into it. If professional organisations can sponsor people, am sure we will have good leadership in the country,” he said.
