By Chioma Umeha
The Governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode has
urged pharmacists to develop drugs that will tackle the health challenges that
are peculiar to tropical Africa using local resources and endowments.
Speaking during an investiture ceremony of the
Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy ( NAPharm) the governor who was represented at the occasion by Dr.
Omodele Osunkiyesi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, also commended the
Academy for its organisational ability and resourcefulness which has sustained
its relevance over the years.
He also noted that pharmacy’s contribution to the
overall well-being of the populace cannot be overemphasized.
The Governor added that NAPharm’s drive for
improving the quality of training in academic institutions and its level of
commitment towards research will stand it in good stead. He therefore urged the Academy to step
up its commitment and not rest on its oars.
Meanwhile, former Nigerian High Commissioner to
the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade has said that true professionals
have a frontline role to play in finding the answers to the challenge of poor
leadership performance in the country.
Kolade said
that his views are based on Nigeria’s experience over the last six decades
and in view of the never ending concern of the performance of leadership in
many areas of life in the country.
On a night, when the NAPharm welcomed six of its
distinguished members into fellowship and honoured Prof. Julius Okojie, former
executive secretary of the National Universities Commission with its life time
achievement award, at an investiture ceremony which took place at the Sheraton
Hotel, Ikeja, 2016, Kolade who congratulated the awardees, said that they have
been honoured for being truly distinguished in the quality of their performance
in the positions that they occupy.
“Leadership performance is a need that the nation
can no longer deny or postpone. Sadly, the constitution that gives political
office holders access to elections does not require them to show any evidence
of performance in any previous positions of respectable responsibility.
“A true professional voluntarily commits himself
to the values, standards and disciplines of his profession which are based on
equity and fairness with Integrity and accountability as an inescapable
imperative in the discharge of their duties,” Kolade said.
On his part, President of the Academy, Prince
Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi noted that pharmacy has long embraced a paradigm shift
in focus, as drugs are no longer the focus and locus of the practice, patients
have now assumed the centre of attention with clinical and public health
pharmacy as the new order.
Furthermore, he noted that the selection exercise
of awardees was a rigorous and meticulous one. “The awardees, drawn from a
diverse sector that includes academia, private and public sector, possess
intensively impressive profiles as well as the mindset and disposition that
resonate soundly with the Academy’s mission and raison d’être. I believe that
they would further enrich the quality and depth of the Academy’s interventions
in society.”
The newly inducted fellows of the Nigeria Academy
of Pharmacy include, Pharm Elijah Mohammed, Registrar of the Pharmacists
Council of Nigeria, Hajia Amina Bala-Zakari one time acting Chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission and Olu Akanmu, Senior Vice
President/ Divisional Head of Retail Banking, First City Monument Bank Plc.
The high point of the night was the conferment of
a life time achievement award on Prof Okojie, who while at the helm of the NUC
saw to the accreditation of new patient-driven curriculum for Pharmacy and was
instrumental to the emergence of the PharmD degree in Nigerian universities.
Dr Kolade and Professor Rahamon Bello, vice chancellor,
University of Lagos (UNILAG) were also honoured with awards.
Dr Kolade was decorated for honouring the
invitation to take the keynote address; Bello was given a special recognition
for situating the NAPharm Secretariat at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of
Lagos, Idi-Araba.
The award ceremony witnessed an impressive turnout
of distinguished pharmacists, stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector and
government functionaries some of which include, Dr. Olajide Idris, Commissioner
for Health, Lagos state, Professor Duro Oni, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Management
Services, UNILAG, Emeritus Professor, Olu Akinkugbe, Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical
Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo, Immediate Past President, PSN and Alh.
Abdullahi Hamza, Head, Lagos Office, National Universities Commission.
The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy brings together
distinguished pharmacists across different spheres of life and helps to drive
thought leadership, providing expert opinion on matters pertaining to the
pharmacy profession.
In so doing, it helps to ensure that the
profession remains relevant to the needs and aspirations of Nigeria.
Founded in 2014, it is the fifth such specialized
Academy in Nigeria with others being the Academies of Science, Letters, Arts
and Engineering respectively.
