How to know if a pharmacy or patent medicine shop is licensed in Nigeria

Who licenses medicine shops in Nigeria

The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria inspects and licenses the places where medicines are stored and sold. Its licences cover hospital pharmacies, community pharmacies, wholesale, distribution and import businesses, manufacturing premises and warehouses, and patent medicine vendors. Before PCN licenses any premises, its inspectors assess the location, the building and the facilities.

PCN licenses the premises and the people. NAFDAC regulates the medicines themselves. You want both: a licensed shop and a NAFDAC-registered product.

A pharmacy and a patent medicine shop are not the same

A community pharmacy is run by a pharmacist, called the superintendent pharmacist. PCN rules say prescription medicines must be kept in the dispensing area and locked away when the superintendent pharmacist is absent. Only a licensed pharmacist may handle controlled medicines and poisons.

A patent and proprietary medicine vendor, or patent medicine shop, is licensed to sell over-the-counter medicines and health products. When PCN sealed outlets in Taraba State in June 2025, one of the reasons it gave was patent medicine vendors stocking products beyond what they are permitted to sell.

What to look for in the shop

PCN's Guidelines for Location, Structure and Inspection of Pharmaceutical Premises, in force since January 2025, set out what a licensed pharmacy must show you:

• The premises' current registration certificate, displayed where you can see it.
• The superintendent pharmacist's annual licence to practise, also on display.
• The name of the superintendent pharmacist, clearly displayed.
• Pharmacists on duty in white overalls with name tags.
• Pharmacy technicians in white overalls with a blue collar and a name tag.

Read the certificate. Make sure the name on it matches the shop in front of you and that the licence is current, not one from a past year. A PCN official in Taraba told the public in 2025 that licensed pharmacies can be recognised by a valid operating licence displayed prominently inside.

The pharmacist's licence to practise is annual. A licence from a past year does not show that the pharmacist is licensed today. PCN inspectors also return for routine inspections. The time between inspections depends on each premises' risk rating.

How to verify a pharmacy on the PCN website

PCN runs a Premises Certificate Verification System. You need the name of the shop.

1. Open the PCN premises search. You can also reach it from the PCN home page at pcn.gov.ng.
2. Type the first few letters of the shop's name, as it appears on the signboard or certificate.
3. Select Search and look for the shop in the results.
4. Make sure a result matches the name on the shop's signboard and certificate.
5. To confirm the pharmacist, use the PCN pharmacist search with the superintendent pharmacist's name.

If you cannot find the shop, ask the staff to show you the certificate. You can also contact PCN on +234 806 605 5429 for registration and licensing enquiries, or by email at connect@pcn.gov.ng, between 10 am and 4 pm, Monday to Friday.

Questions to ask in the shop

A licensed pharmacy has nothing to hide. You can ask:

• "May I see your PCN premises certificate?"
• "Who is the superintendent pharmacist, and is a pharmacist on duty now?"
• "Where do you get your medicines from?"

Write down the shop's name and the pharmacist's name, and verify both on the PCN website when you get home. If staff refuse to show a certificate, take your prescription somewhere else.

Medicines sold online

A website or social media page is not a licensed premises you can walk into. The World Health Organization warns against websites that give no physical address or landline phone number, and against any seller offering prescription-only medicines without a prescription. Look for the pharmacy behind the website, and verify that pharmacy on the PCN premises search.

Why buying from licensed premises matters

The World Health Organization advises getting medicines from licensed outlets such as pharmacies, clinics, hospitals and health centres. The evidence from Nigeria supports that advice.

• A 2015 study of 3,024 malaria medicine samples from 421 outlets in Enugu State found that patent medicine vendors had higher odds of selling falsified medicines than pharmacies.
• Between February and March 2025, NAFDAC removed banned, expired, falsified and substandard medicines worth more than a trillion naira from open drug markets in Idumota, Aba and Onitsha. It found no proof that PCN had registered those market premises.
• In the same operation, NAFDAC said medicines were stored in conditions that failed the minimum standards for storage and distribution.

PCN also closes outlets that break the rules. In June 2025, its team in Taraba State inspected 656 premises across 11 local government areas and sealed 443 of them. Reasons included operating without a licence, failing to renew premises registration and selling controlled medicines without authorisation.

If a shop is not licensed, or a medicine seems wrong

Take your prescription to a licensed pharmacy instead. In Taraba in 2025, PCN asked residents to report suspected illegal medicine sellers to its local office. You can reach PCN through the contact details above or its zonal offices, listed on pcn.gov.ng. If you already have a medicine from that shop and something about it worries you, do not use it. Speak to a pharmacist or doctor, and do not stop a prescribed treatment on your own.

Report a suspect medicine to NAFDAC on 0800-162-3322 or sf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng. Read how to identify fake drugs and how to report a fake product in Nigeria.