[ACCI-CAVIE] Eradication of trade in wholesale drugs in the open market recently recorded a milestone with the Private Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement between Brains and Hammers Limited and Kano State Government.

The PPP arrangement has led to development of the multi-billion-naira Kanawa Coordinated Pharmaceutical Warehouse Centre also known as the Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje Pharmaceutical Centre in Kano.

With the formal opening, Kano has set the pace for other markets in the country where pharmaceuticals are being sold under unregulated environment. These places include Ariaria in Abia State, Idumota in Lagos State and Onitsha Head Bridge in Anambra State.

For years, federal regulatory agencies, particularly the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) engaged perpetrators of this unwholesome trade in a costly battle.

The Federal Government in 2003 muted the idea of a Coordinated Warehouse Centre (CWC) for pharmaceuticals to stop the chaotic and dangerous trade in drugs in the open markets.

At the recent commissioning of the Kanawa Coordinated Warehouse Centre (CWC) otherwise known as the Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje Pharmaceutical Centre, the Kano governor orders the enforcement and regulatory agencies to shutdown stores of traders selling wholesale drugs in the open market at Sabon Gari.

Governor Ganduje: “All other areas for wholesale of drugs in the state will be closed down forthwith and those found wanting will be taken for prosecution.

“This is a complete regulated market. It is the only legal place that you can sell wholesale drugs. The Federal Government has guidelines for the sale of drugs that are healthy and we promised ourselves in 2015 when we came in that we will change the vulnerable situation in the sale of counterfeit, illegal and fake drugs that Kano finds itself. With this commissioning today, we have reached a major milestone in the battle to control illegal and fake drugs.”

The multi-billion-naira facility is developed under a PPP arrangement between Brains and Hammers Limited and the Kano State government is the Phase 1 of the larger 117-acre Kano Economic City (KEC).

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire and Mojisola Adeyeye, director general, NAFDAC praised Governor Ganduje for becoming a model for other states.

Ehanire said: “History will be kind to your administration for relocating all the stakeholders to a regulated drug facility. The plan was that we will not close down the open market shops without providing an alternative. That is how we came about the CWC. It has never existed in Nigeria.”

On her part, Adeyeye said: “The Kano CWC will make our job easier. This is going to be a one-stop spot for us. Because of this edifice, we will have more confidence that the drugs we use are of good quality.”

Secretary of NDLEA, who represented the Director General of the agency, Mohammed Buba Marwa, commended the Kano State government for being the first state to carry out Drug Integrity Test for political office holders and also for supporting the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA).

Chairman of KEC, Mohammed Aliyu Chiroma, described the Coordinated Pharmaceutical Wholesale Centre as a complex of 2,100 shops with warehouses, that will house businesses of all pharmaceutical products in Kano under the control of regulatory bodies such as Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, and NAFDAC.

By The Sun and LB