The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), under the leadership of National Chairman Pharm. Ambrose Ezeh, will host its Monthly Capacity Building Seminar on Tuesday, May 25, 2026, at 2:00 PM prompt. The virtual event is engineered to equip community practitioners with critical skills in regulatory compliance, error reduction, and financial sustainability.
The virtual seminar, themed "Risk Management for Community Pharmacists: Minimising Errors, Legal Exposure, and Business Risk," is designed to address mounting operational vulnerabilities and commercial threats facing retail pharmacy practices across Nigeria. According to Pharm. Eze, ACPN is committed to building a world-class regulatory environment that supports innovation while ensuring safety and accountability.
“We are committed to empowering every Community Pharmacist to embrace Best Pharmacy Practice and collaborate with all stakeholders in the health sector to promote quality healthcare,” Pharm. Eze stated. He further expanded on this vision, noting that the association's ultimate goal is to continuously build the capacity of every community pharmacist in Nigeria to provide quality pharmaceutical and allied health services as responsible healthcare providers. This includes actively collaborating with other healthcare providers, policy makers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders in the best interest of the populace. Crucially, this upcoming webinar is going to address all key issues and set pharmacists on a clear, prosperous pathway for sustainable pharmaceutical practices nationwide.
To further justify the urgent need for error minimization strategies, Pharm. Eze pointed out that patient-level risks remain a critical point of vulnerability for practitioners. He noted that where medicinal products are self-administered by patients, the underlying reasons for medication error or accidental over- or underdose may include a lack of understanding of the dose regime. This, he emphasized, places a direct responsibility on community pharmacists to enhance their clinical counseling frameworks to mitigate such exposure. He added that true risk management requires systematic vigilance to track not only actual adverse events but also "near misses", those errors intercepted at the counter before they ever reach the patient.
As part of these deliberate efforts, the ACPN is actively collaborating with healthcare stakeholders to mitigate operational and business risks. Consequently, the upcoming seminar features key figures from the association’s national leadership and industry experts, including the National Chairman and the Chairman of the ACPN Empowerment and Capacity Building Committee, Pharm. Josephine Ehimen FPSN, who also serves as the Managing Director and CEO of Nett Pharmacy.
According to the committee, this capacity training will provide critical education on environmentally sustainable pharmacy practices, aligning local operations with global eco-friendly healthcare standards. This sustainability mandate integrates directly into their overarching strategy, which focuses on adopting digital technologies, promoting strict supply-chain compliance, accessing innovative financing, and advocating for regulatory reforms to stabilize the Nigerian pharmaceutical sector.
Pharm. Ehimen noted that special operational attention will be paid to the dispensing stage, where threats like look-alike packaging or overlapping company trade dresses often cause practitioners to accidentally select the wrong drug strength, quantity, or dosage form from the shelves. By implementing stricter technological and physical verification workflows, community pharmacies can robustly defend their investments from malpractice liabilities.
To tackle the legal and regulatory complexities of modern practice, the webinar will feature Dr. Thomas Omotayo Ilupeju, the Director of Pharmacy Practice at the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), who will provide expert guidance on practicing within the right statutory boundaries. These regulations establish a comprehensive framework designed to govern the entirety of pharmacy operations in Nigeria, strictly mandating standards for registration and licensing, prescription management, medicines distribution, data protection, and consumer safety to shield practitioners from legal exposure.
According to Dr. Ilupeju, the regulations are aimed at establishing a comprehensive legal and technical framework for the registration, licensing, operations, and oversight of pharmaceutical services. He underscored the urgency of the situation by revealing that medication errors present a massive public health burden. He noted that a good practice guide outlines the key principles of risk management planning in relation to medication errors arising from the medicinal product and its delivery system.
He explained that medication errors can arise at any stage of the treatment process, including prescribing, storing, dispensing, preparation for administration, or administration itself. “We are ensuring that pharmacy practice aligns with national and global realities of the 21st century,” Dr. Ilupeju said, reinforcing the council's commitment to robust sector reforms, while warning that operators in the pharmacy space must now comply fully with the new guidelines, noting that the era of unregulated operations has ended.
Additionally, corporate health expert Dr. Adetutu Afolabi, the Managing Director and CEO of Wellness HMO, will speak on insurance solutions and risk protection for community pharmacies to offer financial safety nets and risk-mitigation strategies capable of shielding pharmacy investments from unexpected business liabilities.
The online event will be expertly moderated by Pharm. Nwamaka Ezedinma. Registration for the virtual seminar is entirely free but mandatory for all licensed pharmacists and healthcare business owners looking to safeguard their investments, insulate their practices from legal liabilities, and build resilient, long-term frameworks for business continuity.Your practice’s compliance and commercial survival depend on the steps you take today.
