… Decry Marginalization, Career Stagnation/Educational Regulatory Framework
By Uzo Ugwunze
Pharmacy Technicians in Nigeria have called for stronger collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to close professional borders, combat quackery and eliminate fake drugs across the country.
The National President of the Reformed Forum of Pharmacy Technicians in Nigeria (RFPTN), Pharm. Tech. Shagba Humphrey T., made the call while delivering an address at the ongoing 99th PSN Annual National Conference, IJELÉ ’26, in Awka, Anambra State, describing it as the first-ever official appearance and address of Pharmacy Technicians at the PSN conference.
Shagba commended the PSN President, Pharm. Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, for his visionary and inclusive leadership, noting that the partnership between both bodies has grown through sustained engagement, from the hosting of former PSN President, Pharm. Cyril Usifoh, at RFPTN’s first national conference to the invitation of the RFPTN leadership to PSN events in Abuja and Lagos.
However, he decried the decades-long career stagnation facing Pharmacy Technicians, who he said spend 30 to 35 years in service and retire with the same National Diploma they started with, unlike other health cadres who enjoy progression from ND to HND, PGD and Masters, and called for clear academic pathways under the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) to restore dignity and productivity.
Shagba lamented that pharmacy practice in Nigeria has become dangerously porous, with doctors, lawyers, bankers, nurses and even SSCE holders operating Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) and community outlets, while trained and PCN-certified Pharmacy Technicians are restricted, stressing that all pharmaceutical service points should be manned exclusively by pharmacists and certified technicians.
He said Pharmacy Technicians are ready to serve as the primary operational link in digital supply chain integrity, cold chain management and anti-counterfeiting, as well as frontline providers in hundreds of rural communities where they already deliver pharmaceutical care.
The RFPTN president listed the forum’s demands to include setting Pharmacy Technician qualification as the minimum legal baseline for dispensing medicines, integration of certified technicians into PCN inspection and enforcement teams for grassroots anti-quackery, deployment in Primary Health Care centres under task-shifting policies, and institutional synergy under the conference theme “One Health, One Pharmacy: Bridging Knowledge, Practice and Policy for National Impact.”
He concluded that Nigeria cannot achieve Universal Health Coverage, eliminate drug quackery or secure its pharmaceutical supply chain while leaving its primary mid-level technical workforce marginalized, pledging the commitment of Pharmacy Technicians to remain competent, ethical and disciplined pillars of pharmaceutical care.
Earlier in his welcome address, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba,
speaking under the theme, “One Health, One Pharmacy: Bridging Knowledge, Practice and Policy for National Impact,” said the conference reaffirms the profession’s commitment to responsive, evidence-based healthcare, noting that human, animal and environmental health are interconnected and require coordinated action across professions and sectors.
He emphasized the need to advance pharmacy practice through structured postgraduate training, clinical collaboration and recognition of the Consultant Pharmacist cadre, citing partnerships with WASPEN and the International Pharmacy Practice Residency Programme as vital steps to improving patient care and health system performance.
Ayuba also called for full implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines and completion of Coordinated Wholesale Centres to fight counterfeit and substandard medicines, while urging stronger partnership with government, academia and industry ahead of the Society’s centenary in 2027 to build a more resilient, equitable and responsive health system.