A delegation from KCHAqua Consortium, a leading indigenous construction, infrastructure, and property development firm, paid a courtesy visit to the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), Pharm. Ibrahim Babashehu Ahmed, at the council’s headquarters in Abuja.
The Chief Executive Officer of KCHAqua Consortium, Pharm Chris Ukah, expressed the company’s excitement to discuss the Coordinated Wholesale Centre (CWC) project in Abia State with the PCN Registrar to ensure that our project meets all the necessary regulatory requirements and standards.
Ukah explained that his team was on a courtesy visit to the PCN Registrar to notify the council that KCHAqua Investment Limited has received approval in principle from Abia State Government to develop a Coordinated Wholesale Center (CWC) in Aba and present essential documents for regulatory guidance and approval.
The documents include a copy of the survey plan containing 30.1 hectares of land from the Surveyor General of Abia State and a Design layout of the CWC in the state.
The CWC project, which will be developed on 30.1 hectares of land in Aba, Abia State, aims to provide modern facilities for medicine dealers and improve the distribution of essential medicines in the region.
Ukah noted that Aba is a significant hub for medicine distribution in Nigeria, serving eight states in the SouthSouth and South-Eastern parts of the country and they include Imo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa, and neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome with a combined population of 31 million necessitating an expansive space to avoid squeezing the CWC out of modern fashion.
“The Abia State Government saw the need for a large expanse of land because of the significance of the hub and has allocated 30.1 hectares of land for the project, which will accommodate over 2,000 stores for medicine dealers and essential facilities such as standard car parks, standard warehouses; loading and off-loading bay; banking halls, restaurants, fire service station; Police Station; PCN Office; NAFDAC Office; NDLEA Office; a Clinic among others.
Ukah said that his organization has held fruitful meetings with the leadership of Aba Medicine Dealers Stakeholders Association and has offered the medicine dealers ownership of the stores, which they have accepted.
The PCN Registrar, Pharm. Ahmed Babashehu, welcomed the delegation and expressed his agency’s commitment to supporting the CWC project in Abia State and to ensure that all pharmaceutical projects in Nigeria meet the required standards.
Babashehu said that the sale of fake and substandard drugs is a major challenge in Nigeria, assuring that the agency in collaboration with stakeholders must work together to address this problem. The PCN Registrar informed his guests that Enyimba Pharmaceuticals had previously submitted an application to the Council for the development of a CWC in Abia State.
KCHAqua Consortium is open-minded, and an abnito came into the project as a facilitator to ensure the dreams of all stakeholders come to fruition in the shortest possible time.
The meeting was attended by other members of the KCHAqua Consortium team, including the former president of PSN, Pharm Ahmed Yakasai, former National Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm.
Olugbenga Falabi, and Chairman of PSN Abia State, Pharm Emmanuel Okafor. The CWC project is expected to improve the distribution and availability of essential medicines in Abia State and contribute to the overall development of the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria.
