PCN Seals 572 Drug Shops in Plateau Over Cooking and Illegal Practice
Last update: June 5, 2026
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Would you buy antibiotics from a shop where someone is frying stew in the back? In Plateau State, inspectors found exactly that, and locked the doors.
The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) has just finished a four-day sweep across Plateau and the numbers are stark. Out of 778 premises checked in Jos North, Jos South, Mangu, Shendam, Barkin Ladi, Qua’an Pan and Bassa, they sealed 572.
That is:
120 pharmacies
372 patent medicine stores
80 outright illegal outlets
Plus five compliance directives handed out.
Speaking in Jos on Friday, the PCN’s Head of Enforcement, Dr Suleiman S. Chiroma, who stood in for the Registrar/CEO, Pharm Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, said it was all under the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (Establishment) Act No. 31 of 2022. The goal, he explained, is to fix Nigeria’s chaotic drug chain through the National Drug Distribution Guidelines, basically, medicines should move only through approved, traceable channels.
What did they actually find? cbinewstv lists a pretty grim catalogue:
cooking inside pharmacy and chemist premises
widespread unauthorised clinical practice
storing and dispensing medicines beyond the legal scope
non-pharmacists getting into poison cupboards
shops running without a valid PCN licence or any registration at all
wilful obstruction of inspectors.
Dr Chiroma did not mince words. He said such behaviour poses grave risks to public health and national security, because controlled medicines can end up diverted to criminal elements and insurgents.
The breakdown is telling. Only 199 of the places visited were proper pharmacies, the rest were patent medicine vendors and illegal shops. And of those 199 pharmacies, 60 percent were sealed. In total, just 40 percent of pharmacies inspected were in good standing.
On the bright side, the PCN noted that only 10 percent of all premises were completely illegal, which suggests the problem in Plateau is less about backstreet drug dens and more about licensed shops cutting corners.
The Council is now urging everyone in Plateau to buy medicines only from PCN-approved premises where a valid PCN licence is clearly displayed. They also thanked residents for cooperating during the enforcement.
As Dr Chiroma put it, and as cbinewstv reported: “Every Nigerian is entitled to access safe, quality-assured medicines dispensed solely by duly trained and licensed professionals. The Council shall remain unrelenting.”
#Nigeria #PlateauState #Jos #PCN #PharmacyCouncil #DrugSafety #PublicHealth #NDDG #cbinewstv
