Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The enforcement teams fanned out across Kano State for four days, moving through 28 local government areas, from the busy commercial hubs of Bichi and Gwarzo to the rural settlements of Rano and Bunkure. When they were done, 797 premises had been sealed, six compliance directives had been issued, and one of the state’s most notorious illegal drug clusters had been permanently shut down. The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria announced the results of its second-phase enforcement exercise on Friday, September 11, 2026, during a press briefing in Kano, and the numbers painted a picture of a drug distribution system riddled with violations that put millions of lives at risk.
The operation, carried out in line with the National Drug Policy and National Drug Distribution Guidelines, involved inspectors visiting 1,153 premises across the state. Among them were 16 pharmacies, 700 patent medicine stores, and 437 illegal outlets that were operating without any form of registration or authorisation. By the time the exercise concluded, the council had sealed 797 premises in total: eight pharmacies, 352 Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendor stores, and every single one of the 437 illegal outlets identified during the operation. Six compliance directives were issued to operators found to have violated regulatory requirements, giving them a final opportunity to correct their practices before facing permanent closure.
The violations uncovered were as varied as they were alarming. Suleiman S. Chiroma, the Head of the Enforcement Department, who represented the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Pharm. Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, said many of the affected premises were operating without registration. Some patent medicine vendors were found stocking ethical medicines, injectables, and intravenous infusions—products that are far beyond the scope of what they are legally authorised to sell. These are not minor infractions. Injectables and intravenous infusions require sterile handling, proper storage, and administration by trained professionals. When they are sold from unregistered shops by vendors with no pharmaceutical training, the risk of contamination, incorrect dosage, and adverse reactions becomes dangerously high. The inspectors also discovered poor record-keeping, improper signage, and poor hygiene at many of the outlets. Perhaps most troubling of all, they found poisonous substances stored in places where they could be accessed by non-pharmacists, including children and untrained shop attendants.
The enforcement team also shut down the illegal drug cluster at Dalan Gyada on Katsina Road. Dalan Gyada has long been a source of concern for regulators. In June 2026, the PCN arrested five persons for breaking official seals placed on illegal pharmaceutical outlets and continuing to operate at Dalan Gyada and Kurmi markets. The council had declared both markets prohibited locations for the sale of medicines, but the operators had persisted. The latest closure of the Dalan Gyada cluster represents a decisive end to a long-running battle. “I wish to bring to the attention of the good people of Kano State that the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines sold at the Dalan Gyada illegal drug cluster cannot be guaranteed,” Chiroma said. “All 437 illegal premises identified during the operation were sealed in line with the law.”
The sheer scale of the violations is a testament to the depth of the problem facing drug regulation in Kano, one of Nigeria’s most populous states and a major commercial hub for pharmaceutical distribution across the North-West and beyond. The fact that 437 illegal outlets were found operating across 28 local government areas suggests that the illegal drug trade in Kano is not a fringe phenomenon but a deeply entrenched industry that has flourished in the absence of effective enforcement. The PCN’s four-day operation is a significant step towards dismantling that industry, but it also raises questions about how these outlets were able to operate for so long and whether the closure of 797 premises will be enough to deter others from filling the void.
The council’s public advisory was direct and practical. Chiroma urged residents to obtain medicines exclusively from premises licensed by the PCN, stressing that the display of a valid and current licence is mandatory and confirms that the facility is duly authorised to operate. The message is simple: if you do not see a licence, do not buy. It is a message that regulators have repeated many times before, but in a market where price often trumps safety and where unregistered outlets offer medicines at lower costs than licensed pharmacies, compliance remains a challenge. The PCN has said it will continue to enforce regulations to protect the public from the dangers associated with improperly handled and illegally distributed medicines. For the people of Kano State, the success of the operation will ultimately be measured not by the number of doors sealed, but by the number of lives saved from medicines that were never fit for human consumption.
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