Chidi Okoro
B.Pharm ;MBA; Dipl Mkt;
Masters in Leadership& Strategy. Founder , Southern Business Academy.
Permit me to stand on existing Protocol.
Thank you for inviting me to speak at this
wonderful occasion. I am honoured to be with you today , almost twenty seven
years after graduating from the university and being inducted into our
profession of honour … the Pharmacy
Profession.
First of all, congratulations to all of
you, you should be very , very proud of yourselves for accomplishing this goal.
Well done! I know you must all be
excited to get this event finished and done with. This milestone is certainly a
strong platform, a launching pad, for what you will strive for and accomplish
in the near future.
Congratulations to your parents , guardians
, lecturers , the UI community and leadership for making your dreams a reality.
Life
is indeed a journey,. To prepare you for the journey ahead, let me start
by sharing with you some bits of the
Nigeria you will be graduating into:
Nigeria is a ‘young nation’ with population
of about 180 million with 70% below 30 years of age. So , when we hear the
maxim .. “the youths are the future of our nation”, we must embrace it and be
sure that we are ready to chart and lead the future that will evolve. We will
spend some time looking at the quality of this population in the course of this
presentation.
Our dear country Nigeria is Africa’s
largest economy with a Gross Domestic Product of $510b. This has been and will
continue to grow at over 5% year on year. The GDP of Africa as a whole will be growing sub 4% and
the world economy will be growing near 2%. This is cheering news. Our forex
reserve has dipped to $29.5b overtime driven by lowering oil prices. Oil
contributes 80% of our foreign exchange. This may be the reason we spend more
time analyzing the oil industry than every other sector of our economy.
If we look at the sectorial contribution ;
Services contribute over 50% to our GDP , Oil and Gas contributes 15% ,
Agriculture chips in 20% , Manufacturing at 6.8% Entertainment contributes
1.4%. The Pharmaceutical sector valued
at below $2b (embedded into the services
sector) contributes a low 0.05% to GDP!!
Our GDP per capita has grown from below
$400 in 1990 to $3000 in 2013. This is following the consistent year on year
growth of our economy.
Nigeria has a debt ($60.1 domestic; $9.5b
external) to GDP ratio of 13% and fiscal deficit of 0.79%. Most countries have
debt to GDP ratio of over 50%. Both indices are low and favourable by every
standard and points to the opportunity within if we can channel resources and
energy more productively.
Let me share with you some indices I am
sure you are already familiar with as regards our healthcare sector to which
our noble profession of Pharmacy belongs.
Nigeria has a life expectancy of 52 years compared to
India’s 62 years and South Africa’s 57 years.
Nigeria has a Physician to 1,000 patient
ratio of 0.4 (this implies 40 Doctors for every 100,000 Nigerians) compared to
India’s 0.6, SA’s 0.8 and the USA at 2.4. Kenya and Ghana at 0.2 and 0.1
respectively. Cuba has the best ratio at 6.7. This is largely related to number
of Medical Schools and other variables.
Nigeria’s total health expenditure as a percentage of GDP is 3.6% ;
compare to USA’s 17.1% and Cuba’s and SA’s
8.8% and 8.9% respectively.
Before we mourn , let me also list the six common diseases in Nigeria –
-
Malaria , Common cold and cough , HIV/Aids ,
Pelvic inflammatory diseases , Hypertension , Acute Diarrhoea.
As young graduates of Pharmacy , do bear
this in mind as you ponder your contribution to ‘impact’ our world!
Nigeria has a registered Pharmacists
number of 14,000 with 9,000 in active
practice. There are only 3,000 Registered Pharmacies as at today. Compare to
Brazils 60,000 and India’s 1,000,000. Nigeria has only 17 accredited Pharmacy
Schools.
This mirrors the fact that Nigeria
has a total registered Doctor population of 65,000 with 45,000 practicing ,
Dentists No is 4,500 with 2,500 practicing.
My dear Graduands , you do not need
me to tell you that you are entering a world of immense challenges and more
than a little uncertainty. Our dear nation is going through a great deal of
turbulence and sometimes the real issues are not on the front burner. However,
I will encourage you to look beyond the ‘noise’ and ‘thunder’. Because ,
beneath all these is a great deal of opportunity for this generation if only we
embrace the occasion with the right ‘mental model’. I believe the University of
Ibadan , which has amongst it’s mission the following…
-
To produce Graduates who are worthy
of character and sound judgement
-
To contribute to the transformation
of society through creativity and innovation.
has prepared you all for the journey
ahead.
Where are the opportunities for Graduates
of Pharmacy like you and I? I must say, numerous
– let me list a couple of evident opportunities here as you reflect on your
future.
Industrial and Manufacturing sector – with over 90% of the drugs we consume in Nigeria still
imported , this is a sector to watch out for. You have a chance in subsectors
of Manufacturing , Marketing , Sales and Quality Assurance.
Retail and Community Sector
– With only 3,000 registered Retail Pharmacies in Nigeria , you can only
imagine the opportunity here. 95% of registered outlets are located in urban
areas. Think about the lack of access to Pharmacy care in rural and semi urban
areas across Nigeria.
Wholesale and Distributive Sector – This sector is waiting for a transformation. There has been some
positive movement past few years but a lot needs to be done. But the approach
will desire some creativity.
Consulting Services
- imagine the numerous small to medium pharmaceutical industries , Retailers and
importers desiring help in areas of Marketing , Regulatory and Quality
Assurance. Consulting in Retail Pharmacy set up and practice. Imagine the
thousands of retail pharmacy outlets springing up in all parts of Nigeria over the past 5 years and coming 10 years.
Academia – With only 17
Pharmacy Schools , this is a space to watch out for. What if 20 new Schools of
Pharmacy open up over next 5 years ? Who knows, would we have enough faculty
for the schools of Pharmacy we will advocate for ?
Research and Statistics
– There is no recognized authority in area of Pharmaceutical sector research
and statistics in Nigeria , perhaps , someone sits here who will open this up.
Policy Making – You can
find a space in Government and contribute to shape the future of our dear profession , the state and the nation.
Training and Development
– What about an organization dedicated to provide cutting edge training and
development services for the Pharmaceutical industry ?
Human Resource Outsourcing Services – Again , a potentially large sector waiting to be opened
up. There will be hundreds of Pharmaceutical industry investors in various
sectors seeking to recruit Registered Pharmacists as this industry evolves. I
am involved with a project to develop a 200 retail chain Pharmacy over the next 10 years, guess the biggest challenge ?
We cannot find the Pharmacists to run the outlets.
Hospital Pharmacy Practice
– This is a traditional sector that has existed for a long time and remains
relevant.
There will also be opportunity in
the evolving Herbal Pharmacy Practice.
I will encourage you to take a look at that sector.
Beyond these opportunities ….
There are realities to confront. Our
noble profession is going through the pains of ‘growing up’ in many areas. This
is akin to the Healthcare industry evolution in Nigeria. This comes with some
realities. I will share a few of those with you as well as my framing of them.
Here is a story that may motivate
you to take an action:
Next village to mine in Arondizuogu in
Imo state , there is a ‘Doctor’ ? , ‘Chemist’? , ‘Pharmacist’ ? , ‘Druggist’ ? called
IK – this community of over 5,000 people rely on IK for their drugs and
medicaments including advisory services. Look around your community , there are
over 50,000 IKs around. I was in Owerri for an event and stopped by at home to
see my relatives back home and ran into one of my Aunties returning from IK’s
premises. She had 7 different medicines that had just been given to her by IK.
When I asked – “what is your problem” , she responded, “I have been having a
back ache and have not been sleeping well”. Note , my Auntie is 64 years and a
farmer – virtually tills the ground with her hands.
What if IK had better exposure and
‘education’ and awareness of his responsibility to his community ? What if we
helped IK gain these attributes that will ensure he is more ethical in the
discharge of his ‘duties’ to my community?
This typifies our dear profession
today!! Let me take a look at our profession today.
Access
is an area desiring attention – with 9,000
registered Pharmacists an3 3,000 registered Pharmacies , access to pharmacy
care by Nigerians is sub optimal. With only 17 Pharmacy schools , the solution
is far from here. Now , what can we do about this – there must be ways and
means to think immediate solution while designing long tern solution. Can we
consider better ways of integrating much the Patent Medicine dealers to create a more
trusting and co operative environment
rather than current system of distrust and neglect ? We can design a model that
works.
Can we think about e Pharmacy
services model that seeks to make Pharmacy care services available virtually
both via our telephones and internet. With 140 million phone users , we will be
reaching a lot more Nigerians.
Can we as Pharmacy practitioners ,
PSN , PCN look to encourage more private Universities to launch 50 schools of Pharmacy over the next 10 years
?
Can
we not Instigate better Quality Teaching
in our Pharmacy Schools ? A curriculum that exposes our youths to the
opportunities in our environment while showing the evolving trends in our dear
profession in more advanced parts of the world. A teaching method that helps
our students build character like University of Ibadan seeks to deliver. A
teaching method that focuses on building resilience empathy , humility ,
selflessness in our youths and have them ready for the world outside. A
teaching method that seeks to develop our creativity , problem solving and
critical thinking instincts.
What if we positioned 6 top schools of Pharmacy in six geographic
areas of Nigeria in areas of Pharmacy Microbiology , Pharmaceutical chemistry
and Analytics to serve as the NAFDAC
analytical laboratories ? This ensures students are exposed to industry
dynamics via engagement with NAFDAC and
it’s activities early on from school.
What if our Pharmacy Schools are partnering
with external Consultancy houses actively market and provide services such as
Research in basic areas like fake and counterfeit products prevalence ?
What if our professional colleagues
from private and public practice are integrated into the teaching of Pharmacy
in all schools – graduands can leave Pharmacy school with full understanding of
the profession from an external perspective.
The
Pharmaceutical Industry has huge
headroom for expansion– Contributing a
meager 0.05% to GDP shows enormous opportunity for us as Pharmacy
professionals.
What if we strive to achieve a target of
manufacturing locally , 50% of
pharmaceutical products consumed in Nigeria? What if we have a law
mandating minimum 80% of drugs in our hospitals to be locally manufactured
medicines ?
What if we spent more time as
professional groups analyzing the opportunities within the industry and working
with interested parties to design possible actions to pick up this opportunity
in the interest of our profession and our nation. This will require a reframing
of our narrative from challenges and problems to opportunities and strengths.
What if agencies of Regulation of
the Pharmaceutical and allied industries reframed their role to evolve from
control , regulation and punishment to development , cultivation and expansion
of the industry ? This will require a rethinking and mindset change. Every time
I have listened to regulators and professional groups within my dear profession
, it had been about a rhetoric of the problems and challenges. I seldom hear about
partnerships that need to be cultivated to build our profession , I seldom hear
about need to encourage availability and access to Pharmacy care for teeming Nigerians. I seldom
hear about encouraging the ‘investors’ we call traders to integrate fully into
our dear profession by having their children and wards study Pharmacy and over
time , we will have over 65% of the profession in the hands of trained
professionals.
What if some of our regulatory
agencies devoted more time to nip incidences of fake and adulteration in the
bud rather than the current model of enforcement which leads to millions of Naira being thrown to the dogs
every month ? What if we designed programmes that encourage investors to come
into the mainstream ? I mean encourage and propel , not REGULATE and CONTROL!!
The
biggest area of opportunity for our dear profession is on home ground
…..Professionalism! Many of us lack valuable
information that enables choice making, we lack awareness , we lack
understanding and so we settle for lowly endeavours in our desire to pay our
rent and feed our families today. This is an area we need to reflect on and
make individual efforts to improve upon. As young graduands , I will encourage
you to break away from this ‘rat race’. Seek exposure , seek education and make
a road map for yourself that looks to the ‘future you desire’. Please note, it
will be a marathon. I will advise you to desist from preparing for a ‘sprint’.
This is an area I will encourage parents and guardians to help support their
wards on.
What if we move to become the change
we so desire ? What if we took steps to become thorough professionals in words
and deed? What if the Pharmacists become a rallying cry and role model for the
generality of Nigerians.
It should begin with ONE of us and that one is YOU and I!
Dear Graduands , it’s your time in
the sun. We expect a ‘push’ from you lot to propel us forward. The time of
blaming the ‘leadership’ for all our challenges should end with you .. You are
‘leaders’ we are all ‘leaders’!
Steve Jobs said something profound,
‘Your time is limited , so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let
the noise of others’ opinions drawn out your own inner voice. And most
importantly , have the courage to follow your heart and intuition’.
Bradley Whitford once said, ‘Take
action. Every story you’ve ever connected with , every leader you’ve ever
admired, every puny little thing that you’ve ever accomplished is the result of
taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of
circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life’.
I had framed what many people call
challenges and issues as opportunities for a reason - we are a developing
country awash with opportunities. But as a developing country , you will need
to navigate tough challenges to pick the opportunities. Do not get distracted.
But , we all have a part to play to propel our nation, moreso, the noble
profession of Pharmacy and Pharmacists. We can choose to highlight the issues
or choose to proffer solutions and actually take action in our little spheres
to show the way and bring good , quality pharmacy care to our people. If you
reference the six top diseases in Nigeria and Africa , you can see that as
Pharmacists , we can help curtail the impact of those diseases by a large
percentage.
As Pharmacists , how can we
contribute to the growth of our nation ? How can we reframe the narrative
from highlighting the issues to pointing to and actually taking actions to help
the growth of our nation ? How are we shaping up to ensure we deliver quality
pharmacy services to our teeming population and truly become role models that
we aspire to ? How are we going to help position the profession of Pharmacy to
become a revered Profession because we as Practitioners exhibit exemplary
character in words and deeds?
How are we going to design systems
that ensure our relatives in our various villages and communities get some
level of good pharmacy and drugs advisory services ? What will be our input to
grow the contribution to GDP of the Pharmaceutical
sector to 3% overtime ? What will be our contribution to ensure up to 60% of drugs and medicaments consumed in
Nigeria are made locally thereby providing jobs and experience to our teeming
youths.
If we become true professionals in
words and deed , we will be helping influence ethical conduct in our national
lives.
If we can help reframe the narrative
about our profession , we will be helping to channel the energies of
stakeholders more productively towards delivering solutions so that our
tomorrow will be better than our today!
Can we think how we as Pharmacists can
creatively help combat the six common diseases afflicting majority of Nigerians
? When we do this , we will earn the trust and confidence of the community and the
Government. We will no longer be seen as ‘takers’ but as ‘ valuable
contributors’! Let us ponder over this.
If we can help improve the healthcare
indices of our nation , our great nation will profit in many ways including –
higher productivity leading to higher per capita income and then better life
for more people. If we evolve to a healthier nation , we will be trending to a
wealthier nation.
My dear friends, you are armed with
a very valuable degree , you are armed with a platform to be able to chart a
future for yourself and contribute to build our great nation. I will advise
that you view this as the beginning , you need to keep seeking knowledge , and you
need to keep updating yourself with the latest trends and news within the
Pharmacy profession. The hard truth is that many of you will actualize your
dreams of achieving excellence in their chosen fields, many may not. Whatever
becomes of you will be an outcome of actions you take and do not take over next
5 years. But keep an eye on Nigeria’s policy on education, it is to be able to
produce men and women with skills and knowledge to contribute to build our
nation while upholding our culture and tradition.
Can I challenge you to ‘seek to learn
first before seeking to earn’ ? Can I advise you to seek to ‘grow before you
crow’? Can I challenge you to endeavor to define ‘success’ in your own way and
not how societal pressure and expectations define it ? Can I challenge you to
strive to make a difference in whatever sphere and community you find yourself
?
Can I challenge you to be value
adding to society that has given you enormous value in terms of education ?
Let me close with an advice .. It’s hard not to be
afraid to try -Be less Afraid.
It’s hard to resist- joining - the ‘band
wagon’. Resist it more strongly and firmly!!
Welcome to our noble profession of
PHARMACY..
Thank you for the audience!!
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