A total of 19,059 illegal pharmaceutical premises have been shut down in the last four years across the country by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN).

Pharm Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, the Registrar PCN, on Saturday disclosed this during the presentation of the gazetted PCN (Establishment) Act 2022.

He explained that “From 2018 to the 8th of October 2022, a total of 27, 262 facilities were visited for enforcement activities. Out of this number, we have closed down a total of 19, 059 of them.”

The registrar pointed out that 16, 502 were sealed as patent medicine shops, saying that 1,780 others were premises sealed for operating illegally as pharmaceutical premises.

He said a total of 110 persons were arrested by the council for illegal activities and are at various stages of prosecution within the period under review.

Professor Ahmed Tijjani Mora, the Chairman of the Governing Council of PCN, explained that the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria is no longer the name of the group as it is now called Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), with the new act.

The chairman stated that the council has been empowered under the new act to regulate not just pharmacists but all stakeholders involved in the pharmacy distribution chain, such as pharmacy technicians and patent medicine vendors, manufacturers, and importers, among others.