VERY USEFUL FOR PHARMACIST AND PROSPECTING PHARMACIST

1. HISTORY OF PHARMACY,
PHARMACY EDUCATION,
CAREER AND ETHICS IN
NIGERIA
BY
PHARMACIST JOSEPH,
OYEPATA SIMEON (PH. D)

2. INTRODUCTION
Pharmacy is the health science (that is, art and science) that links medical
science with chemistry and it is charged with the discovery, production, control, disposal, safe
and effective use of drugs. The practice of pharmacy requires excellent knowledge of drugs,
their mechanism of action, side effects, interactions, mobility and toxicity. At the same time, it
requires knowledge of treatment and understanding of the pathological process
HISTORY
Just as it is in other parts of the world, the history of pharmacy in Nigeria is old, though largely
unrecorded. Medical knowledge was largely kept by traditional healers and spiritualist.
Information on healing including the materials and the methodologies were passed down
verbally from generations and sometimes lost due to death. It is only perhaps from the last half of
the 19th century, with the introduction of Western education that some wise elders started
dictating such knowledge to their younger ones for posterity.
Before the advent of the early European missionaries, the major source of healing the sick was
through the traditional healers, who used clay, plants and animal parts, or supernatural means (or
combinations thereof) to bring about healing to their patients.
Early Years of European Pharmacy Practice
This era covers the period from the late 19th century to the first few decades of the 20th century.
Pharmacy education during this period started with training of Nigerians in dispensing through
apprenticeship under physicians, to prepare simple solutions and mixtures and subsequently
either serving as dispensers in the hospitals or opening medicine shops to serve Nigerian
community. An example of such early shops was that of Mr Richard Zaccheus Bailey, which
was opened in 1887 along Balogun Street in Lagos.
Later on experienced dispensers and reputed pharmaceutical companies were allowed to train
others. Again, Mr Bailey was an example of such early trainer of dispensers. With time,
apprenticeship training in hospitals under physicians became more formal and regular. By the
beginning of the 3rd decade of the 20th century (i.e the 1920’s), it became clear that the
apprenticeship programme could no longer meet the need for pharmacy services in Nigeria, and
preparations were made through legislation to open school of pharmacy for training of
dispensers. This plan materialized through the establishment of a School of Pharmacy at Yaba,
Lagos for the purpose in 1925.
Hospital Pharmacy Practice
A clear majority of the “pharmacists” in the early part of this era were actually “dispensers”. The
hospitals or dispensaries were managed under the supervision of the medical officers in charge of
such hospitals or dispensaries. There were only four hospitals in Nigeria as at 1900. These
hospitals were located in Lagos, Asaba, Abeokuta and Calabar, three of which were government

3. hospitals and one, a mission (Catholic) hospital. These hospitals used a common hospital
formulary. There were also a number of mission medical set-ups before this date in some coastal
towns, which could not be described as hospitals. However, there was a steady growth in the
number of hospitals both government and mission between 1900 -1960.
Community Pharmacy Practice
In community practice, the first medicine shop was opened in 1887 by Mr Richard Zaccheus
Bailey in present-day Balogun Street of Lagos State. It was primarily to cater for his European
clients and a few African elites. Other retail pharmacies did not come into existence until the
1920’s and much later. The West African Drug Company Ltd was established in 1924, while
commercial Medicine stores (by Chief S. T. Hunponu-Wusu and Mr Robert Olatunji Adebowale)
and Phillips Medicine Stores (by Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips) were established in the
1940’s all in Lagos. Several years went by before retail pharmacies were opened in the towns of
the old Western, Eastern and Northern regions of Nigeria. By the end of 1960, as many as 150
community pharmacy shops had been established while a total number of registered pharmacists
(many of who were not in community or general pharmacy practice) was 542.
Industrial Pharmacy Practice
Industrial pharmacy was evident with the arrival of May and Baker in 1944, Glaxo and Pfizer in
1954. These pharmaceutical companies were mainly into importation and marketing of
pharmaceuticals. Large-scale drug production began in the 60s involving government agencies,
multinational companies and private entrepreneurs. Presently, there are more than 115 registered
pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria. These companies manufacture various pharmaceutical
dosage forms cutting across various therapeutic classes. In addition to providing dependable
high-quality pharmaceutical products to medical professionals and patients in various
communities in Nigeria and West Africa, they have also contributed greatly to the economic
growth of the nation.
Notable Pioneers of Pharmacy in Nigeria
1. Mr Richard Zaccheus Bailey (1829-1911)
Mr Richard Zaccheus Bailey, popularly known as the doctor was the first man to open a
pharmacy in Nigeria in the year 1887 along Balogun Street, Lagos having obtained a license
from the Governor-in-Council to do so. He also trained many dispensers – Alfred Philip, Julius
Apena, Nelson Cole, S. R. Macauley, Moses Da-Roche and John Caulcrick, all of who later
trained as physicians.
2. Mr Emmanuel Caulcrick

4. According to official records, Mr Emmanuel Caulcrick was the first registered Nigerian
pharmacist. He was registered on the 1st September 1902. He later opened a medicine store in
Lagos.
3. Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips (1884 – 1969)
Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips was born in 1884 to the Bishop and Mrs Charles Phillips. He
attended the Government Training School for Dispensers, where he trained and qualified as a
Chemist and druggist. Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips opened a chemist store – Philips
Medicine Store in Faji Market, presently Tinubu Square in Lagos State. He subsequently trained
as an optician. He was also the first president of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) (1947
– 1951).
4. HRH. Oba John Adetoyese Laoye (1899 – 1975)
HRH. Oba John Adetoyese Laoye was born in 1899. He trained as a dispenser through hospital
apprenticeship that he competed in 1917. He served as a government dispenser in many towns in
Nigeria including Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Ibadan, Akure, Sapele, Maiduguri, Benin, Warri and
Forcados. He was enthroned in 1946. He was a founding father of the Nigerian Western House
of Chiefs (1952).
5. Sir kofo Abayomi
Sir kofo Abayomi was one of the early dispensers, who trained through apprenticeship. He
served in several hospitals. He was also enlisted in the army as a sergeant dispenser during the
First World War where he gained valuable experience with and worked under some European
pharmacists and Physicians.
6. Prof. Dr Cletus Nzebunwa Aguwa
Prof. Dr Cletus Nzebunwa Aguwa was the first academic clinical pharmacist to be employed in
Nigeria. He was also the first professor of clinical pharmacy in the entire black Africa.
Others notable pharmacists who are qualified to be numbered include, Chief S. T. Hunponu-
Wusu, Mr. Azariah Olusegun Ransome-Kuti, , Mr Robert Olatunji Adebowale, Mr. Afolabi, I.
Kinoshi, Mr. Peter Etim Archibong, Mr. D. A. Pratt, Dr. Gordon Taylor, Mr. J. P Marquis, Pa
Peter Omar Ishaku, Ahaji Adamu Bako Dikko, Chief (Mrs.) Ekanem Bassey Ikpeme etc.
Pharmacy career prospects
Pharmacy profession offers quite a lot of career opportunities and they include:
 Hospital pharmacy

5. Hospital pharmacies are pharmacies usually found within the premises of a hospital. Hospital
pharmacies usually stock a larger range of medications, including more specialized and
investigational medications (medicines that are being studied, but have not yet been approved),
than would be feasible in the community setting. Hospital pharmacies typically provide
medications for the hospitalized patients only, and are not retail establishments and therefore
typically do not provide prescription service to the public. Some hospitals do have retail
pharmacies within them, which provide over-the-counter as well as prescription medications to
the public, but these are not the actual hospital pharmacy.
 Community pharmacy
A pharmacy (also called community pharmacy) is a retailshop which provides prescription
drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of medical
prescriptions and is available to give advice on their offerings of over-the-counter drugs. A
typical pharmacy would be in the commercial areaof a community.
 Wholesale pharmacy
Wholesale drug distributors are a link between manufacturers and pharmacists. Their role is to
ensure prescription medications are delivered safely and efficiently every day to thousands of
health care practitioners and pharmacies nationwide.
 Industrial pharmacy
Industrial pharmacy is the process which includes manufacturing, development, marketing
and distribution of drug products including quality assurance of the developed
drug. Industrial Pharmacy Journals have a broad scope which contains all the kinds of
articles related to Industrial Pharmacy.
 Veterinary pharmacy
It is a field of pharmacy practice, in which veterinary
pharmacists may compound medications, fill prescriptions, and manage drug therapies for
animals. Veterinary pharmacists are licensed pharmacists who specialize in the distribution
of medications for animals. This differs slightly from the title of "veterinary pharmacy
specialist," who might additionally work in consulting, research, and education for veterinary
pharmacy. Regular pharmacists in a variety of settings come into play in the preparation and
dispensing of animal medications as well. As veterinarians treat a wide variety of animals
with a wide variety of products, pharmacists can help manage these treatments through their
compounding and drug knowledge. Compounding is often necessary for animal patients, as

6. they require different dosages and medication forms from humans. Through compounding,
pharmacists can adjust a medication for an animal so it is more appealing in taste or
appearance
 Administrative/ Organizational pharmacy
A program that prepares individuals to apply managerial, social, and economic sciences to
the study and management of the distribution and use of pharmaceutical products and the
provision of pharmacy services. Includes instruction in research design and methods,
statistics, social and organizational behavior, pharmacoeconomics, management of pharmacy
services, outcomes research, product planning and reimbursement, cost-benefit analysis,
drug marketing, pharmacy and pharmaceutics law and regulation, risk assessment, and
organization of the health care system
 Pharmacy journalism
is news reporting of medical news and features. Medical journalism is diverse, and reflects
its audience. The main division is into (1) medical journalism for the general public, which
includes medical coverage in general news publications and in specialty medical
publications, and (2) medical journalism for medical professionals, which often appears in
peer-reviewed journals.
 Pharmacy education/ the academia
Academia is an attractive option for pharmacists who enjoy working with students while
engaging in clinical practice and/or in clinical research. Duties of an academic pharmacist may
include administrative activities, scientific research, teaching professional student pharmacists,
supervising research and teaching graduate students, speaking and/or publishing in scientific
venues, student advising, and teaching student pharmacists through experiential practice sites.
PHARMACY EDUCATION AND PROFESSION
The last four decades have witnessed developmental changes in pharmacy education in Nigeria.
The paradigm change in the role of the pharmacist from a product-oriented to patient-oriented
focus requires that the overall education of pharmacists be reorganized to meet the increasing
changing roles. Curricular of schools of pharmacy in Nigeria are continually reviewed with the
aim of attaining the dynamic competency required to reflect the paradigm shift in service focus
and the development of the necessary clinical skills that will enable pharmacists to identify and
meet the increasingly complex medication needs of patients.
The pharmacy profession did not originate from Nigeria. Pharmacy practice technically was the
first form of science when humans use nature to treat diseases. The pharmacy program was part

7. of medical science. It went a separate way from medical science in the year 1240 by the emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire, Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen. The first ever known pharmacy shop in
the world was in Baghdad, Iraq during the 8th century. It took centuries before the first ever
pharmacy shop came to Nigeria.
First Pharmacy Shop
Before pharmacy profession came to Nigeria, Nigerians have been known to use nature just like
their foreign counterparts in treating diseases. However, a European operated the first pharmacy
shop in Nigeria, by the name Mr Richard Zachues Bailey (1829 – 1911) in the year 1887. The
shop was at Balogun Street, Lagos state. The store was licenced by the then governor-in-council
Early Dispensers
The European Medical doctors that reside in Nigeria started training dispensers in 1899. There
was no formal school hence the apprentice method. In this method, a student can decide the
medical doctor to serve under as a master. The student goes to the house or the shop of the MD
every morning. In other cases, the student may live with the master for some years.
Early Association
Dispensers that graduated were later employed to work in the government hospitals. Obviously,
the hospital cannot absorb them all as they started selling drugs in the 1920s. These dispensers
came together to form Nigeria’s first ever pharmacy association known as Association of
Dispensers (A.D). It will interest you to know that this association is still with us today as
Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (P.S.N). It was registered in 1956.
It was not until 1947 that pharmacists in civil service formed an association known as Nigerian
union of pharmacists. It was dissolved in the year 1977 when national trade union took over all
other unions.
Early Student Dispensers
The first school of dispensers is Yaba Higher College, Lagos established in 1927. Another
druggist and chemist school was established at Zaria in 1930. The training of dispensers,
druggist, and chemist started in 1946 and regulation was by the Board of Medical Examiners
(B.M.E). For now, they were all diploma degree. Entry requirement were relevant science
subjects in General Certificate Examination (G.C.E) ‘O’ level for its five years course. It was
three years for those who entered for the Diploma program was the postsecondary certificate
obtained from the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST), Ibadan.
Mr Joseph Ogunlesi was the first person to own an indigenous pharmacy shop in Nigeria. This
was located at Victoria Street in Lagos. That same year, two others came up. One thing to note is

8. that previous pharmacy shops where for Europeans and elite Nigerians. This figure rose
significantly to 200 by 1960.
Early Pharmacy Students
The school of pharmacy moved from Yaba Health College to the Ibadan in 1957 as a department
under the formal NCAST, Ibadan. In the 1962 University of Ife, Ile Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo
University, OAU) took over the program. It awarded chemist and druggist diploma. Later start
the diploma in pharmacy in 1963 until 1965. It was not until 1966 that they graduated their first
pharmacy students with a B. Pharm; classified degree. It took, however, Ahmadu Bello
University (A.B.U) seven years to produce their first pharmacy graduate with B.Sc. Pharm. A
point to note is that ABU came from the school of pharmacy, Zaria. The degree was for three
years, which started in 1968.
The entry requirement at this time has changed a bit. They require applicants to obtain a Higher
School Certificate (H.S.C), Interim Joint Matriculation Examination (I.J.M.B), or ‘A’ level GCE
certificate. This examination normally takes between 1 – 2 years. The next school that started
pharmacy was the University of Nsuka, (U.N.N). Other schools followed years later. This was
how the school of pharmacy started in Nigeria.
Changes To Pharmacy Programme
It was not until the 1980s that the degree became four years from three years and degree became
unclassified. The minimum pass mark was raised from the normal 40 % to 50 %. Another
interesting part is that the minimum graduation requirement was a Cumulative Grade Point
Average (C.G.P.A) of second class lower.
It was in 1984 pharmacy programs appeared for the first time in Joint Admission And
Matriculation Examination (J.A.M.B) brochure. The duration for students coming in through
JAMB was five years with a declassified degree. From this date, the first set of students with a
declassified degree was to graduate at 1988.
However, the first set of pharmacy students with a declassified degree was from O.A.U in the
year 1987. This is a year less than the expected. The students that graduate with the degree were
the ones who gained admission a year before JAMB introduce pharmacy into their brochure in
1984. That is while these sets of students are technically the first to graduate with a pharmacy
degree unclassified. However, ABU was the first to attain the four-year duration. This thus
makes their students the first official students to graduate with a pharmacy degree unclassified.
In 1990, National Universities Commission (N.U.C) change terms to a semester of 15 weeks,
twice in a year. One credit unit means one hour of lecture per week or three hours of practical per
week.
Pharm. D. was first launched in the United States Of America (U.S.A) in the 1990s. It came to
Nigeria in the year 2003 and the first school to run the programme is University of Benin
(U.N.I.B.E.N).

9. The government using its ministries regulates pharmacy education and practice. The ministries
set up bodies that help to carry out these regulations such as Pharmacist Council of Nigeria
(P.C.N) under Federal Ministry of Health (F.M.C) and NUC under Federal Ministry of
Education (F.M.E). PCN was established in 1992.
Summary of Pharmacy education in Nigeria
Pharmacy education in Nigeria passed through five developmental stages viz:
1. Training of dispensers through apprenticeship (1887 – 1923)
2. Training of dispensers through formal schools of pharmacy e.g., School of Pharmacy Yaba,
School of Pharmacy, Zaria.
3. Training of chemists and druggist (1927 – 1972) in School of Pharmacy, Yaba and Zaria and
Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan.
4. Training of pharmacists at Bachelor Degree level (1963 to date).
1.5.Training of pharmacists at Doctor of Pharmacy Degree level (2016 to date).
CODE OF ETHICS FOR PHARMACISTS
Where there is no discipline, there is no profession. Pharmacy is a professional course that deals
directly with humans and is thus governed by rules and ethical codes that should at all times be
strictly adhered to. His professional responsibility is shown towards patients, his colleagues, his
community and also to himself.
Pharmacist’s responsibilities to his patients and his community
 He should be objective in his dealings with patients placing their good and welfare before
financial gains.
 He should not discriminate among patients.
 He should respect patients’ right of confidentiality.
 His professional services should be in the overall interest of the community.
Pharmacist’s responsibilities to his colleagues and service
 He must cooperate with other colleagues in all professional duties.
 He should seek fair and reasonable remuneration for his services.
 He should provide pharmaceutical efficient services in the organization where he works.
 He must not agree to practice under conditions and terms that will interfere with his
professional duties.
 All relevant documents concerning poison and classified drugs should be duly filled and kept
safe.

10. Pharmacist’s responsibilities to self
 He should try to keep himself updated with current trends and knowledge of drug therapy to
ensure competence at all times.
 His manner of life should be professional and not be a disgrace to the profession.
Pharmacy premise
 The location must be in accordance with the regulations of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria
(PCN).
 The premise both internally and externally should reflect professional character.
 The pharmacist should at all times be seen at the premise offering professional services.
 He should avoid drug and service advertisement
The baton of progressive changes has been handed on from one generation of pharmacist to the
next. You are another upcoming generation. It is therefore expedient and duty-bond that you
make it better for yourself and the generation after you!
Assignment: What are the challenges you think pharmacy profession is currently facing. What
should be done to remedy these problems. Also, as a prospecting pharmacist, what are your
pledges towards the betterment of the profession.

11. THANK YOU