Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate pharmacy practice laws and regulations in Nigeria and recommend ways to overcome the challenges facing its implementation.
 Methods: Semi-structured questionnaire of 19 questions was administered to pharmaceutical inspectors of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) to assess pharmacy practice laws and regulations in terms of its mandate, the challenges in implementation and recommendations for amendment for legislative attention. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics.
 Results: Respondents (87.5%) were not satisfied with the existing laws and regulations and 56.3% agreed that they were inadequate to regulate the practice of pharmacy profession in Nigeria. Some respondents (37.5%) agreed that the laws and regulations were not specific on many issues that require regulation and enforcement while all of them (100%) agreed that the laws did not adequately capture offences and penalties for offenders. Half of the respondents (50%) were of the opinion that the name of the regulatory body poses a limitation to the regulation of its sub-cadre while 43.8% agreed that consistent court injunctions and litigation that occurred had hampered regulation of pharmacy practice as a whole.
 Conclusion: The existing laws and regulations are inadequate to regulate the current pharmacy practice in Nigeria. Need for speedy review in order to meet up with the current reality in practice, wide publicity, increase manpower, adequate funding and strong legal backing of PCN activities were recommended.
Highlights
The law regulating the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria dates back to 1878 when the Lagos Pilotage and Harbor ordinance was enacted [1]
The State and Zonal offices are headed by competent pharmacists with appropriate qualification and experience who are directly involved in pharmaceutical inspection activities among others while the Directors of Pharmaceutical Services in the State Ministry of Health (DPS, MOH) are delegated as the chairpersons of both the Pharmaceutical Inspection Committee (PIC) and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors Licence (PPMVL), the two committees of Council involved in inspectorate activities for pharmacies and patent medicine stores
Due to inadequacy of Inspectors to carry out the inspectorate activities, pharmacists who are not staff of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) that are of good standing were appointed by PCN to work in collaboration with PCN in these activities under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement
Summary
The law regulating the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria dates back to 1878 when the Lagos Pilotage and Harbor ordinance was enacted [1] This ordinance established the control and supervision of medicines and medical treatment respectively. The Pharmacy Ordinance No. of 1902 was enacted to control the sales and distribution of drugs and poisons and was restricted to the colony of Lagos, the town of Calabar, Opodo, Warri, Forcados and such other parts of the Protectorates as the Governor in the Council declared. Under this ordinance, the early dispensers and druggists were examined and granted certificates and licenses
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