The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) on Monday called for tougher punishment for manufacturers and distributors of fake drugs, proposing a minimum fine of N25 million and prison terms of between five and 20 years for offenders to deter offenders and protect public health.

Addressing a press conference ahead of the society’s 99th Annual National Conference, the PSN President, Pharm. Ayuba Tanko Ibrahim, urged the National Assembly to expedite work on the amendment of the Fake Drug Act.

Ibrahim said the existing penalties, including fines as low as N5,000 and N10,000 in some cases, were inadequate to discourage offenders operating in the lucrative counterfeit drug business.

“How can you say somebody is caught faking drugs and pays a fine of N5,000 or N10,000? So it encourages them,” he said.

The PSN president explained that the proposed amendment would prescribe a fine of not less than N25 million, imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and up to 20 years, or both, as well as forfeiture of assets where applicable, depending on the nature of the offence.

He said the society had presented its position at a recent public hearing at the Senate, expressing hope that lawmakers would accelerate the legislative process to ensure the proposed changes became law.

According to him, the profitability of counterfeit medicines makes stronger sanctions necessary, even as regulatory agencies intensify enforcement operations.

“Drug faking has come to stay. Nobody should assume that it can be eliminated because it’s a very lucrative business. So, as they are doing, we should be thinking of how to checkmate them,” Ibrahim said.

He urged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to sustain efforts to identify, arrest and prosecute those involved in the trade.

Beyond tougher punishment, Ibrahim called on federal and state governments to fully implement the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG), approved in 2015, to improve the regulation of medicine distribution and curb the circulation of fake and substandard products.

The guidelines provide for the relocation of major open drug markets to Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWCs), where medicine distribution can be better monitored.

The PSN identified the major open drug markets in Idumota, Lagos; Head Bridge, Onitsha, Anambra State; Sabon Gari, Kano; and Ariaria, Aba, Abia State, as requiring sustained government attention under the reform.

Ibrahim said the CWC initiative had recorded progress in Kano, while projects in Lagos and Anambra required continued attention to ensure their completion and effective operation.

He added that Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, had promised support for the initiative in the state.

He urged the Federal Government to collaborate with the affected state governments to remove administrative and other obstacles delaying the establishment and operation of the centres.

According to him, effective implementation of the guidelines, alongside stronger penalties, would help strengthen the medicine supply chain and improve patient safety.

The PSN president also warned against placing the responsibility for identifying fake medicines on patients, insisting that pharmacists and other qualified professionals had a critical role to play in protecting consumers.

He said manufacturers conducted quality-control checks before releasing medicines to the market, while some companies had introduced product-verification systems to help detect suspected counterfeits.

“It is not the job of a patient to check or confirm whether a drug is fake or not. The pharmacist that showed the drug to him should be able to check if the drug is fake or not,” he said.

Ibrahim advised Nigerians to purchase medicines from registered pharmacies rather than unregulated outlets, warning that unauthorised sales of prescription medicines, including antibiotics, could expose consumers to serious health risks.

He stressed the need for public education on the safe purchase and use of medicines, noting that patent medicine vendors were subject to restrictions on the products they could legally sell.

On the rising cost of medicines, the PSN president said government incentives for pharmaceutical manufacturers would have limited impact unless authorities addressed the broader costs of local production.

He explained that reductions in import tariffs alone might not translate into cheaper medicines if manufacturers continued to face high diesel prices, electricity costs and transportation expenses.

“Unless the government takes a holistic view of the drivers of the prices of pharmaceuticals, we are not going to see any appreciable decrease in the cost of drugs,” he said.

Ibrahim urged the government to consult pharmaceutical manufacturers and their industry associations before introducing policies intended to reduce medicine prices, arguing that manufacturers could provide practical insights into the factors driving production costs.

He also called for stronger collaboration between government agencies responsible for natural-product research and pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop promising research findings into medicines for local use.

The PSN president warned that the high cost of medicines was pushing some Nigerians away from conventional healthcare towards traditional remedies, underscoring the need to improve access to affordable and quality-assured medicines.

Meanwhile, PSN National Secretary, Pharm. Gafar Madehein, cautioned Nigerians against assuming that herbal products were safe simply because they carried NAFDAC registration numbers.

He explained that a registration number issued for listing purposes did not necessarily mean that a product had undergone clinical trials demonstrating its safety and efficacy.

Madehein also warned that combining herbal remedies with conventional medicines could trigger harmful interactions, urging consumers to seek professional advice before using them together.

The pharmacists spoke ahead of the PSN’s 99th Annual National Conference, scheduled to hold in Awka, Anambra State, from November 1 to 6, 2026, under the theme, “One Health, One Pharmacy: Bridging Knowledge, Practice and Policy for National Impact.”

The conference is expected to bring together pharmacists, policymakers, regulators, researchers and other healthcare professionals to discuss pharmacy practice, clinical collaboration, education, research and pharmaceutical policy. (Vanguard)