The Growth of Pharmaceutical Business in Borno State, Nigeria, 1976-1999

Pharmaceuticals, especially drug distribution, are so priceless that no nation can survive without them. This business has virtually touched the lives of people in so many ways. This work focuses on pharmaceutical business in Maiduguri, Borno State of Nigeria from 1976 to 1999. Primary and secondary sources generated from interviews and documentary data from libraries and other centers formed the bedrock of the data used herein. The primary sources included: interviews with present pharmaceutical operators, random sample interviews with wholesalers, retailers, peddlers, pharmacists, and individuals of the Borno State Ministry of Health, NAFDAC officials as well as some of the oldest operators of pharmaceutical stores in Borno State. The secondary sources included: publications from regulatory agencies such as Pharmacists’ Board of Nigeria (PBN), Pharmacists’ Council of Nigeria (PCN), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and the Borno State Ministry of Health. Historical-cum-analytical method of presentation was used in the course of the write-up. The research discovered that the operation of pharmaceutical stores – through wholesaling and retailing – in Maiduguri Township during the period under review, 1976-1999, blossomed, because of the phenomenal expansion of the Township, awareness among the populace as well as the incidence of diseases. Furthermore, the scale of drug distribution in both hospitals (public and private) and pharmaceutical stores in volume and value accounts for a substantial part of the commerce of Maiduguri Township in particular and Nigeria in general.