Nigeria’s Pharmaceutical Industry and the Challenges of Control by Regulatory Agencies

Abstract

Despite the concerted efforts by successive governments in fighting the widespread fake, adulterated, counterfeit, and substandard pharmaceutical products, as well as drug use and misuse in Nigeria, illegal drug dealers and entrepreneurs are becoming more daring. They seem to suppress and obstruct government efforts to bring sanity into the healthcare delivery systems to perpetrate their illegal business. This paper examines the effectiveness of the concept of the Coordinated Wholesales Centres (CWC) in curtailing the menace of fake and counterfeiting, the mystery of drug use and misuse, and the challenges encountered alongside its implementation process. It also questions the inability of the government and its regulatory bodies to enforce the relocation of drug dealers to the new CWC flagship project in Kano state. The paper recommends that policymakers should recognize and prioritize drug distribution channels as a major critical issue in the healthcare delivery system, that the activities of the regulatory bodies should closely be monitored to avoid internal sabotage by the workers, strict enforcement of policies shall be adapted and to punish recalcitrant, a synergy between the regulators and drug entrepreneurs, and a coordination among the regulatory bodies to attain positive policy implementation.