Nigeria: Court Jails Illegal Pharmacy Operators As Psn Raises Alarm Over Fake Drug Crisis

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, on Monday applauded two landmark Federal High Court judgments convicting operators of illegal pharmaceutical facilities, describing the rulings as a major breakthrough in the fight against fake drugs and quackery in Nigeria's healthcare system.

The society said the judgments delivered by the Federal High Courts in Ibadan and Calabar have strengthened pharmacy jurisprudence and sent a strong warning to operators of unlicensed pharmaceutical premises across the country.

In a press statement signed by its president, Pharm. Ayuba Ibrahim Tanko, FPSN, the society commended the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, for sustaining enforcement actions against illegal drug operators despite growing challenges in the sector.

According to the PSN, the Federal High Court in Ibadan on May 26, 2026, sentenced an unregistered operator of a patent medicine shop, while another ruling by the Federal High Court in Calabar jailed the operator of an unregistered pharmacy alongside three others for operating an unlicensed pharmaceutical premises and engaging unqualified personnel to dispense drugs.

The society described the judgments as "historic", insisting that they would strengthen public confidence in efforts to sanitise the drug distribution system in Nigeria.

"The PSN finds it extremely important to applaud recent impressive judicial pronouncements which enhance pharmacy jurisprudence."

He warned that many illegal operators falsely claim to have received healthcare training in private hospitals and pharmacies, thereby endangering public safety through unlawful drug dispensing practices.

According to him, such activities violate several provisions of Nigeria's pharmacy and drug laws, including the Fake Drug Act, which criminalises possession and sale of fake drugs as well as the sale of medicines in unauthorised locations such as markets, kiosks, motor parks and other unapproved premises.

"Section 2.2 of the Fake Drug Act is very unambiguous that the appropriate licensing authority is the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria," he said.

The PSN president further raised concerns over what he described as widespread regulatory abuse in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, alleging that some groups, with the backing of certain government officials, had unlawfully assumed powers to register pharmaceutical facilities in violation of the PCN Act 2022.

"The situation in Cross River and Akwa-Ibom States stinks to the high heavens because in recent years an obsessed group of miscreants have assumed regulatory powers," he alleged.

Tanko argued