How Politics and Poor Regulation Are Killing Nigerians Daily

Photo: Tribuneonlineng.com

The Bitter Pill Ordinary Nigerians Are Forced to Swallow

Let's talk about something that affects every single Nigerian — whether you dey for Lagos Island or Kafanchan, whether you be oga at the top or struggling hustler. The Nigerian healthcare system is in serious trouble, and the people paying the heaviest price are everyday Nigerians who just want to stay alive and healthy. This is not just another abstract policy discussion — people are dying. Real people. Your neighbours, your family members, your colleagues.

Olumide Akintayo, a Fellow and past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), has been speaking truth to power, and e dey pain to hear. According to him, the twin demons of political interference and weak regulation have turned Nigeria's healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors into a dangerous jungle where the ordinary citizen is the hunted prey.

Politics Don Enter Everywhere — Even the Hospital

You know how we Nigerians joke that politics don enter everything? From football to Nollywood, everybody dey play politics. But when politics enter healthcare, e no funny again. Akintayo has made it clear that political interference is one of the biggest reasons Nigeria's health system is struggling to stand on its two legs.

Think about it this way — drug regulatory agencies that should be biting hard against fake medicine traders sometimes find their hands tied by political strings. Appointments into critical health regulatory bodies are sometimes based on who you know, not what you know. Budgets for healthcare get slashed or redirected based on political calculations rather than the urgent needs of sick Nigerians. The result? A system that is supposed to protect citizens ends up being a tool that serves the interests of the powerful.

When a mother in Ogun State buys medicine for her sick child and that drug is counterfeit — possibly because the enforcement agencies could not do their job properly due to political pressure — that is not just a policy failure. That is a human tragedy. And it is happening far too often in this country.

Fake Drugs and the Dangerous Market Nobody Wants to Fix

One of the most alarming issues Akintayo raised is the continued circulation of substandard and falsified medicines in Nigeria. E be like say some people don accept fake drugs as normal part of Nigerian life — but we cannot afford to normalize this wickedness.

Nigeria remains one of the world's most vulnerable markets for fake and substandard drugs. Estimates have suggested that a significant portion of medicines circulating in some African markets, including Nigeria, may be of poor quality or outright fake. When the regulatory teeth are pulled out by politics and poor funding, these dangerous products find their way into patent medicine stores, local pharmacies, and even hospitals.

Akintayo has been vocal about the need to seriously empower community pharmacists as the first line of defence in healthcare delivery. These are trained professionals who are closer to ordinary Nigerians than most specialists, yet the system consistently undermines their role. Instead of strengthening this critical link in the healthcare chain, political decisions continue to sideline qualified pharmacists in favour of arrangements that serve commercial or political interests.

Community Pharmacists: The Untapped Weapon We Are Wasting

Here is something wey plenty Nigerians no know — your community pharmacist is arguably one of the most accessible healthcare professionals you can reach. No appointment needed. No long queue to see a consultant. Just walk in and get professional advice. In countries where the healthcare system actually works, pharmacists serve as crucial healthcare touchpoints, handling routine health concerns, medication counseling, and early detection of serious conditions.

But in Nigeria? The system has not fully harnessed this potential. Regulatory gaps mean that not all medicine sellers are qualified pharmacists. Quacks and untrained individuals operate medicine outlets with little consequence. Meanwhile, trained community pharmacists struggle to practice at the full scope of their professional abilities because of regulatory and political bottlenecks.

Akintayo's argument is clear — if Nigeria is serious about primary healthcare, then community pharmacists must be given a stronger, well-defined role backed by proper regulation and political will. This is not rocket science. It is common sense backed by evidence from countries that have made it work.

What Weak Regulation Actually Looks Like on the Ground

For those who think regulation is just grammar for policy people, let's break it down with real-life examples of what weak regulation means for ordinary Nigerians:

• You buy paracetamol and it doesn't work — possibly because it contains little or no active ingredient, and nobody caught the manufacturer.
• A patent medicine dealer gives your child the wrong dosage of antimalarials — because there's no trained pharmacist supervising, and enforcement is practically absent.
• Hospitals dispense expired medicines — because inspection visits are rare, underfunded, or compromised.
• Quack practitioners operate freely — because licensing and enforcement systems are weak and easily manipulated.
• Imported substandard medical equipment floods our hospitals — because procurement processes lack transparency and technical oversight.

These are not hypothetical scenarios. These things are happening across Nigeria right now, today, as you read this.

The Political Will Question — Who Will Bell the Cat?

Here is where e get complicated. Everyone agrees that Nigeria needs stronger healthcare regulation and less political interference. But the same political class that is supposed to make this happen is often the one benefiting from the status quo. Drug importers with political connections, hospital owners who are themselves politicians, regulatory officials who owe their appointments to godfathers — these are the people who need to reform a system that currently works in their favour.

Akintayo's voice is important because it represents the professional community that sees this rot from the inside. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and similar bodies need louder platforms and stronger backing from civil society to push for real, enforceable reforms. Nigerians also need to demand accountability — from their local government health officers all the way to the Federal Ministry of Health.

The Bottom Line — Your Life Is the Stakes

This is not just a story about pharmaceutical policy or regulatory frameworks. This is a story about whether you and your family can trust the medicines you buy, the healthcare facilities you visit, and the system that is supposed to keep you alive.

As Akintayo and other healthcare advocates continue to speak out, the question remains — will Nigeria's political leadership listen before more lives are lost? Or will we continue to pay the ultimate price for a system that serves the few at the expense of the many?

The ball, as always in this country, is in our court. We must demand better — loudly, consistently, and without apology.