Drug insecurity: Pharmacists urge Tinubu to shut open drug markets, warn of link to banditry

…Demands declaration of pharmaceutical insecurity as national security threat …Says diverted tramadol, other controlled medicines fuel terrorism, violent crimes …Hails NLC, TUC, JOHESU over 19 months’ arrears, CONHESS adjustment By Chioma Obinna The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, has urged President Bola Tinubu to declare pharmaceutical insecurity a national security threat, warning that the proliferation of unregulated drug markets and diversion of controlled medicines are creating dangerous links between drug trafficking, banditry, terrorism and organised crime.

The Society also called on the Federal Government to replace open drug markets with licensed Coordinated Wholesale Centres, insisting that the procurement, storage, distribution and dispensing of medicines, particularly controlled and psychoactive drugs, must remain under effective government supervision. PSN President, Pharm. Ayuba Ibrahim Tanko, made the demands in Awka, Anambra State, while delivering his presidential address at the opening of the Society’s 99th Annual National Conference, tagged PSN-IJELE 2026, at the International Convention Centre.

Tanko, who expressed concern over what he described as growing pharmaceutical insecurity, maintained that drugs were not ordinary commercial commodities but products with far-reaching public health, regulatory and national security implications. “Drugs are a matter of permanent regulatory control and national security,” he declared. He argued that the Federal Government must not surrender the country’s pharmaceutical supply chain to private commercial interests, stressing that government involvement was indispensable to effective regulation, accountability and national security.

The PSN president’s intervention comes amid growing controversy over the Federal Government’s Medipool initiative, approved by the Federal Executive Council in May 2025 as a National Group Purchasing Organisation, GPO. Although the initiative is designed to achieve lower medicine prices, reduce stock-outs, promote transparent procurement and support local pharmaceutical manufacturers, the PSN expressed reservations about its structure, legal framework and proposed operational arrangements.

Tanko clarified that the Society was not opposed to pooled procurement but insisted that the model must operate within the country’s legal and regulatory framework. “The GPO idea itself has support. The debate is about structure and legality, not about pooled purchasing as such,” he said. He questioned the wisdom of handing over the supply chain of public health facilities to a private company, citing possible conflicts with the Public Procurement Act 2007, the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, Act 2022 and the National Health Act 2014.

According to him, the Constitution places drugs and poisons on the Exclusive Legislative List to ensure uniform national regulatory control because of their public health and security implications. He further argued that a private takeover of the pharmaceutical value chain could weaken collaboration among government institutions and regulatory agencies, particularly the PCN, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

“Government cannot transfer its standing at the cooperation and goodwill that NAFDAC, the NDLEA and the PCN extend to Federal Health Institutions. The same latitude cannot be granted to a private concessionaire,” he warned. In making the case for stronger government control, Tanko linked the diversion and abuse of controlled medicines, particularly tramadol and pentazocine, to the country’s worsening security challenges.

He cited NDLEA findings identifying the abuse of diverted controlled medicines as a major factor associated with banditry, terrorism and violent extremism, adding that Nigeria has an estimated 14.3 million drug users. He also referenced the November 2025 arrest of a suspected supplier of tramadol, codeine syrup and other drugs to bandits operating across Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto states.

In another instance, he cited the NDLEA’s interception of 1.6 million tramadol pills in July 2026 in a cross-border trafficking operation reportedly bound for Kano. The PSN president said illicit pharmaceutical trade, money laundering and insecurity were interconnected, warning that weak traceability and unregulated drug markets were creating opportunities for smuggling and the financing of organised criminal activities.

He maintained that strict public custody of medicines, particularly controlled and psychoactive drugs, from procurement to dispensing, was both a healthcare necessity and a security safeguard. Tanko also raised concerns over the influx of fake and substandard medicines into the country, citing NAFDAC’s reported destruction of counterfeit and substandard products worth approximately N1.5 trillion between June 2025 and June 2026.

He said the agency also secured 64 convictions