Anambra State Governor, Charles Chukwuma Soludo has set 17th June 2022 for the commencement of construction works at the new site for drug marketers.
This was disclosed on Wednesday when a combined delegation of stakeholders paid a courtesy call on the Governor at the Anambra State Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia.
Members of the delegation include the Ogbogwu Market Association, represented by their caretaker committee Chairman, Mr Chukwulota Ndubuisi; the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Anambra State, represented by Pharmacist Josephat Obasi, and Mr Uche Eze, the Chairman of Coordinated Wholesale Centre — a supply chain distribution framework of the pharmaceutical society of Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, the regulatory body for all drug-related activities including production and distribution, Pharmacist Fechi Njoku, bemoaned the current unregulated state of the open drug market at Bridge-head Onitsha.
She noted that the council in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health had made frantic efforts in the past to no avail to ensure a better system where wholesome drugs are produced and distributed according to international best practices.
She thanked Governor Soludo for showing a strong will to bring the situation under control with the swift approval for the commencement of work at the proposed new site in Oba.
Governor Soludo assured the visitors of his resolve to transform the new Oba drug Market into a highly regulated ecosystem for the sales and distribution of drugs and to further expand it into a manufacturing hub for all kinds of safe and efficacious drugs.
The project is a Private-Public Partnership where the Government is providing land and other technical support. It is expected to be completed in the next 24 months, with the first phase billed to be set in the next 8 months.
Those at the meeting include Dr Afam Ben Obidike, the Anambra State Commissioner for Health and Dr Godwin Nnadozie, Special Adviser to the Governor of Anambra State on Medicals and Pharmaceuticals.
