Pharmacy Academy Seeks Safe, Affordable Medicines

The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy has called for better and affordable medicines at its yearly investiture in Lagos.

At the event, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Chief Oludolapo Ibukun Akinkugbe for his  contribution to the pharmaceutical sector. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) received an Honorary Fellowship.

The association’s President, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, said bestowing the award on Chief Akinkugbe was ‘’a token of our appreciation of his enormous strides not only in the Pharmacy profession but indeed in all other aspects of human endeavour.

‘’As he turns 90 in December, it is only fitting and proper that his number one constituency, Pharmacy, kicks off the celebration of an illustrious role model whose legacy of love, sacrifice and service would be forever etched in our hearts and minds.”

He continued: “It is in the same vein that we induct General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma’s investiture as only the second ever Honorary Fellow of the Academy. He remains one of the most passionate supporters of the Pharmacy profession and a most generous benefactor of scientific research.’’

According to Adelusi-Adeluyi, “the Academy of Pharmacy owes society a duty to help unravel better, safer, more convenient and more affordable medicines and treatment regimens for diseases that afflict mankind, especially those that are endemic to our region of the world.”

The high point of the ceremony was the announcement of the Academy’s Research and Innovation Centre,  named after Akinkugbe.

According to the Academy, the centre was built to give  boost research and development.

“It is for this reason that research is central to our operations, one of the major reasons, indeed, that the Academy came to being. We want to complement local and international efforts that support scientific research and research activities. Much of the work we have done in this regard has been in the area of advocacy, in engaging government and policy makers on the essence of scientific research and why it is critical to provide better funding and other moral support to scientific research focused institutions as well as individual researchers.”

Gen. Danjuma, chairman, May and Baker Nigeria Plc, donated N10 million to the Olu Akinkugbe Research and Innovation Centre.

Professor Ernest Benson Izevbigie, a  scientist and former Vice Chancellor, Benson Idahosa University, Edo State, in his lecture, titled, From plant to patient: Driving research and innovation for industry called for the translation of research findings into societal values.

Izevbigie, whose work on the use of bitter leaf, Vernonia Amygdalina in cancer and diabetes management, has received global critical acclaim, provided insights into how he had used bitter leaf in managing breast cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer with results better than western drugs.

Femi-Oyewo, former dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), among others,  attended th event.