Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria has raised a desperate alarm over the mass emigration of no fewer than 9,000 pharmacists from the country in the last four years, warning that the relentless brain drain is creating a dangerous manpower shortage with grave implications for patient safety, healthcare delivery and the very survival of Nigeria's pharmaceutical sector. The ACPN National Chairman, Pharmacist Ambrose Ezeh, made the disclosure at the close of the association's 45th Annual National Scientific Conference, held from July 27 to August 1, 2026, at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja, where senior government officials, regulators and industry stakeholders had gathered to chart a path forward for the beleaguered profession.
Ezeh revealed that records from the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria confirmed that approximately 9,000 pharmacists exited the country in the four-and-a-half years leading to December 2025. More alarming still, the exodus has not slowed in 2026. In the first six months of the year alone, over 850 pharmacists obtained letters of good standing from the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, the prerequisite for practising overseas, and relocated primarily to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and, to a much lesser extent, the United States and parts of Asia. The cumulative figure now stands at nearly 10,000 professionals lost in just five years.
Ezeh attributed the mass migration to a toxic combination of poor reward systems, delayed enforcement of drug distribution guidelines, disorganised medicine procurement networks and the government's failure to fully implement the National Drug Distribution Guidelines introduced in 2015. "Some of the glaring challenges are the not-too-impressive reward system and the poor drug distribution system, which impinges on the image of the profession," he said. He lamented the absence of a comprehensive public drug procurement policy, which he said continues to weaken the pharmaceutical profession and expose patients to unsafe medicines. "The fortunes of the profession continue to plummet rather dangerously in recent years," Ezeh warned.
The ACPN chairman did not mince words about the consequences. He warned that the continued departure of skilled pharmacists was creating a serious manpower shortage, with grievous implications for patient safety and the sustainability of the pharmaceutical sector. The crisis extends beyond community pharmacies. The Lagos State chapter of the PSN had earlier warned that the shortage of registered pharmacists was creating dangerous gaps in drug regulation and patient safety, with the Department of Pharmaceutical Services in some states left with only one functional director overseeing more than ten units. "We are now witnessing a dangerous depletion of pharmacists in strategic regulatory positions. This is already creating gaps in drug control and weakening compliance structures across the health system," the Lagos PSN had warned.
Beyond the workforce crisis, Ezeh declared that drug abuse has become a national emergency. Citing the 2018 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime survey, he said more than 21 million Nigerians abuse various psychoactive substances, including cannabis, opioids, codeine-containing cough syrups and sedatives. The NDLEA has meanwhile reported arresting 29,262 suspects and seizing over 5.3 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs valued at more than N1.5 trillion in the last 18 months. The ACPN urged the government to strengthen drug control policies, punish traffickers and illegal medicine vendors, improve border surveillance and provide adequate resources for enforcement agencies.
To stem the bleeding, the ACPN called on the Federal Government to sponsor executive bills or support private member bills targeting three priority reforms: the amendment of the Fake Drug Act to impose stiffer penalties, the establishment of a Federal Drug Management Agency or Drug Revolving Fund Agency to institutionalise medicine procurement, and the creation of a National Postgraduate College of Pharmacy to train specialist pharmacists locally. Ezeh argued that existing penalties under the Fake Drug Act are too lenient to deter offenders, thereby discouraging investment in the pharmaceutical industry. The association proposed a 20-year jail term for first-time fake drug offenders, while repeat offenders should face life imprisonment and forfeiture of all identified assets. Stronger sanctions, Ezeh said, would boost investor confidence and support the development of a pharmaceutical industry valued at about $10 billion.
On the proposed National Postgraduate College of Pharmacy, Ezeh noted that Nigeria currently bears more than 95 per cent of the funding burden of the West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacists after several member countries, including Ghana, established their own national institutions. "Only Nigeria funds the subsidy gap of over 95 per cent to nurture the sub-regional college in forex. This should be a cause for concern for Nigerian authorities," he said. The ACPN also renewed its call for legislation to institutionalise the Drug Revolving Fund system, noting that although the National Council on Health resolved in December 2024 that all public procurement of medicines should be channelled through the DRF framework, implementation has remained weak due to institutional shortcomings.
The conference, themed "Unity 2026: From Local Pharmacy Practice to Global Impact – Managing Complex Healthcare Systems," attracted prominent personalities including Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume, Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, and President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Ayuba Tanko Ibrahim. Akume commended ACPN for its contribution to quality medicine and urged pharmacists to deepen collaboration with state governments. Delivering the keynote address, Wale Oyenuga challenged stakeholders to move pharmacy practice beyond traditional product dispensing and reposition it as a comprehensive healthcare service, proposing a five-pillar transformation agenda built around a unified national vision, rigorous quality standards, digital-first data systems, formal integration of community pharmacists into primary healthcare and greater participation in healthcare financing.
Ezeh urged the Federal Government to constitute a Presidential Committee on the pharmaceutical sector to drive legislative reforms and address longstanding challenges affecting medicine regulation, workforce development and drug distribution. He said pharmacists were ready to partner with government in the national interest, urging policymakers to recognise the profession as a strategic component of healthcare delivery and national development. "The fortunes of the profession continue to plummet rather dangerously in recent years," he had warned. The question now is whether the government will move from policy promises to concrete reforms before the remaining pharmacists also pack their bags and join the 9,850 who have already left.
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