Pharmacists Protest Sealing of Premises By Benue Govt

Pharmacists under the umbrella of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) have decried the raid and sealing of pharmaceutical premises in Benue by the state’s Ministry of Trade and Investment officials over business registration fees.

In a letter to the Governor of Benue State, Rev. Hyacinth Alia, signed by the ACPN National Chairman, Ambrose Ezeh and Secretary, Omokhafe Ashore, the association said officials of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, accompanied by policemen invaded pharmaceutical facilities in Makurdi and Oturkpo, demanding payment of “unauthorised Commerce and Industry levy” and subsequently sealed the premises for alleged non-compliance.

ACPN also claimed that the officials of the Benue State Ministry of Trade and Investment forcibly locked pharmacists and their staff inside the premises for over seven hours and were “released after the intervention of some citizens.”

It described the action of the officials as “illegal and contrary to existing Pharmacy and Drug Laws in Nigeria.”

In the document, ACPN said that a “group of 20 officials from the Ministry of Trade and Investment, accompanied by 10 policemen, stormed pharmaceutical facilities on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. The agents reportedly demanded payment of an unauthorised “Commerce and Industry levy” and subsequently sealed the premises for alleged non-compliance.

Pharmacists and their staff were forcibly locked inside the premises from 11a.m. to 7p.m. until their release was secured through the intervention of concerned citizens.
“It is a violation of due process as articulated by the Joint Tax Board for two different agents of government (federal and state government) to subject any entity to multiple taxes on a particular endeavour.’’

Continuing, it body of pharmacists stated: “As clearly enunciated by the victims of the unlawful act of the State Ministry of Commerce and Investment, all pharmaceutical premises in Nigeria pay the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria a body corporate and parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health a fee for the certificate of pharmaceutical premises where they operate based on extant Pharmacy laws.”

ACPN further argued that, “fundamentally, agents of state governments and local government areas have no regulatory powers or roles to exercise on Pharmacy Practice in Nigeria. This is premised on the reality that drug matters are listed as item 21 in part 1 of the 2nd schedule in the 1999 Constitution.”

To buttress its position on the matter, ACPN emphasised that, “It is only the National Assembly that makes laws regulating Pharmacy and drug matters in Nigeria, while the Federal Ministry of Health through its agencies like Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and others are the entities empowered by law to enforce Acts of parliament made by the National Assembly.”