Pharmacies and medicines in Nigeria: buying safely and paying from abroad

Checking the pharmacy

• The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) licenses pharmacists, pharmacy premises and patent medicine vendors. Its public search shows whether a pharmacist or a premises is registered: pcncore.azurewebsites.net/PublicSearch.
• Enforcement is real. In October 2025 the PCN sealed 498 of 845 premises it inspected across 20 Lagos local government areas: 215 pharmacies, 83 patent medicine stores and 200 illegal medicine shops, for lapsed licences, non-pharmacists handling controlled medicines and wholesalers selling retail.
• Patent and proprietary medicine vendors, the small chemists on most streets, may sell only pre-packed over-the-counter medicines. In a 2026 Ibadan study, half of them were prescribing, giving injections and setting up drips, all outside their licence. For anything on prescription, use a pharmacy with a pharmacist.

Checking the medicine

• Every registered medicine carries a NAFDAC registration number. Look it up on the NAFDAC Greenbook (greenbook.nafdac.gov.ng), the official register.
• Many antimalarials and antibiotics carry a scratch panel. Text the code, free, to the short code printed on the pack (38351, 38353, 38120, 20966 or 1393 depending on the provider) and NAFDAC's Mobile Authentication Service replies genuine or suspect.
• Report a suspected fake on 0909 763 0506 or 0909 763 0507, or to reform@nafdac.gov.ng.
• Why it matters: in a 2021 to 2022 study of 260 samples of 13 essential medicines, including amlodipine, metformin and ciprofloxacin, bought in Enugu and Anambra, 25.4% failed a quality test. Licensed vendors and open markets failed at the same rate; the four outright fakes all came from markets. Most of the problem is poor manufacture, not counterfeiting, which is why buying a known brand from a registered pharmacy matters more than the shop's appearance.

What medicines cost, and why they jumped

• Between March 2023 and February 2024, private-sector prices of blood-pressure medicines in north-central Nigeria rose 134% and antibiotics 78%, as the naira fell and headline inflation went from 22% to 33%.
• GSK ended its Nigerian operations in August 2023 after 51 years, and Sanofi followed. A Ventolin inhaler went from about N3,500 in mid-2023 to about N10,000 by January 2024.
• Insulin: doctors reported in August 2026 that a month's supply now costs about N25,000 against N5,000 before, and about N50,000 a month for someone using two vials.
• Lagos retail prices on 19 September 2026 (one national chain's online store): Actrapid insulin 10ml vial N21,780; metformin 500mg, 30 tablets, N6,490 (branded) or 100 tablets N8,040 (generic); amlodipine 10mg, 28 tablets, N890 (local generic) to N3,960 (imported generic); a 14-tablet course of co-amoxiclav 1g N19,360.
• The lesson for anyone sending a fixed amount for medicines each month: check the receipt against a current price every few months, because the amount that bought a month's supply in 2024 buys a fortnight's now.

Paying from abroad

• Licensed online pharmacies deliver. HealthPlus (60 stores) takes international cards through Paystack and delivers nationwide; Famasi lets someone abroad order for a relative from a network of over 1,000 pharmacies in 27 states, with same-day delivery in parts of Lagos and a monthly medicines plan priced in dollars.
• The Electronic Pharmacy Regulations 2026 require any online pharmacy to hold a PCN licence and a superintendent pharmacist, and prescription-only medicines need a valid Nigerian prescription (prescriber's registration number, patient's name, dated, valid six months). A site that sends prescription medicines without asking for one is operating outside the rules.
• For long-term conditions the simplest arrangement is a standing order with one pharmacy, paid monthly by card, with the pharmacist confirming each dispensing to the family. Where a Kinship Plan is in place, Kinship Well pays for consultations and treatment within the plan's benefits, the nurse visiting the home sees what is actually in the cupboard, and the Kinkeeper reads the note.

Questions people ask

Related

• Managing blood pressure or diabetes from abroad
• Sending money to Nigeria for healthcare