The association responsible for drug distribution in Nigeria, the Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (PWDAN), has called for implementing National Drug Distribution Guidelines to ensure drug safety and security.
This call was made by the chairman of PWDAN, Ogheneochuko Omaruaye, in a chat with journalists at the 2025 conference organised by the association held in Ikeja, Lagos, with a conference title “Bridging gaps: integrating Pharma Wholesaler/Distributors For Medicine Security in Nigeria”.
Omaruaye noted that there is a drug policy called the National Drug Distribution Guideline for how drugs should be distributed in Nigeria, lamenting that the policy has not been implemented as it should.
“For us, as the Pharmaceutical Wholesaler and Distributors Association of Nigeria, PWDAN, the policy should be implemented. Let that policy guide everything that we do.
“In that policy a manufacturer and an importer only manufacture or import drugs, he or she is not involved in selling it to the retailer or the end user; he or she is meant or mandated to sell it to a distributor or a wholesaler,” he said
He explained the theme of the conference was carefully chosen to reflect the call to action, adding that failure to adhere to the distribution guideline gave room for the influx of adulterated drugs.
Omaruaye stated that many times, good drugs are imitated by unscrupulous elements and sold to innocent consumers.
The PWDAN chairman said anybody involved in drug distribution should register with PWDAN. If the distribution guideline is followed, medicine manufacturers can easily take stock of the drugs released to the market and ascertain the quantity sold.
“In that same policy, the wholesaler/distributor is mandated to sell it privately to the retail pharmacist and hospitals. All these are private now. There is also a space for the government, a space for private use, and a space for movement.
In her remarks, the Director General of the National Administration for Food, Drugs Admin and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who was represented by Dr. Regina Garba, noted the role that PWDAN plays in the value chain, stressing that the agency remains resolute in its mandate to safeguard public health through effective regulation and control of medicines and related products.
