Nigeria has lost 9,850 pharmacists to migration over the past five years as professionals continue to leave the country in search of better pay, career prospects and improved working conditions abroad.
The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) revealed that about 9,000 pharmacists exited the country in the four-and-a-half years preceding December 2026, while more than 850 others obtained letters of good standing from the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) in the first six months of 2026 alone, signalling that the exodus has continued unabated.
Speaking on Tuesday at the opening of the 45th Annual National Scientific Conference of the ACPN at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Scientific Conference Centre in Abuja, the National Chairman of the association, Pharm. Ambrose Ezeh, described the trend as a serious threat to Nigeria’s healthcare system and pharmaceutical industry.
Ezeh said data compiled by the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) National Secretariat indicated that the profession had continued to suffer significant losses to migration, warning that the departure of skilled pharmacists was depleting the country’s healthcare workforce.
“The fortunes of the profession continue to plummet rather dangerously in recent years,” he said.
“Data at the PSN National Secretariat confirm the exit of about 9,000 pharmacists in the four-and-a-half years preceding December 2026. The first six months of 2026 have not been significantly better, as over 850 pharmacists have collected letters of good standing from the PCN and moved on to countries like Canada, the UK, Australia and, to a much lesser extent, the USA and some Asian territories.”
He attributed the increasing migration to poor remuneration, inadequate workforce development plans and the government’s failure to fully implement the National Drug Distribution Guidelines introduced in 2015.
According to him, the absence of a clearly defined public drug procurement policy has continued to undermine pharmacy practice, weaken the pharmaceutical sector and compromise patient safety across the country.
“Some of the glaring challenges are the not-too-impressive reward system and the poor drug distribution system, which impinges on the image of the profession,” Ezeh said.
The ACPN chairman urged the Federal Government to urgently sponsor executive bills that would reposition the pharmaceutical sector and strengthen medicine regulation in the country.
He identified three key legislative priorities, including the amendment of the Fake Drug Act, the establishment of a Federal Drug Management Agency or Drug Revolving Fund Agency, and the creation of a National Postgraduate College of Pharmacy to improve specialist training and professional development.
On the growing menace of counterfeit medicines, Ezeh argued that existing sanctions under the Fake Drug Act were too weak to deter offenders, adding that the lenient punishment regime had discouraged investment in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry.
“The activities of charlatans are not encouraging pharma investors because of the extremely feeble sanction culture the Fake Drug Act offers,” he said.
“In alignment with PSN proposals, the ACPN calls for 20 years’ imprisonment for first offenders and life imprisonment, as well as outright forfeiture of all known assets, for subsequent offenders.”