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Steps to Register With Pharmacist Council of Nigeria

Read the step-by-step guide to register with Pharmacist Council of Nigeria and the Corporate Affairs Commission for license to operate pharmacy business.

There is no way you can run a legitimate pharmacy without registering with the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN). In fact, before you even have plans of start a pharmacy of your own, you must go through the process of registration and approval.


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This process is not too demanding. I believe we’ve all filled a form at one point in time in our daily lives. Even when you wanted to register for the screening exams into the university of your choice, you filled a form and now that you’ve become a Pharmacist, filling of forms shouldn’t be an headache.

The same thing is applicable here, when you are about registering in order to gain the legal rights to practice pharmacy anywhere within the country, you also have to fill some forms which is done the same way as other forms you’ve been filling before now.

This article will help outline all the necessary procedures that will guide you on how to successfully register with the Pharmacist council of Nigeria and the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Steps to Register With Pharmacist Council of Nigeria

So, what is this Pharmacist Council of Nigeria all about?

I will answer this. Pharmacist Council of Nigeria is nothing more than a body, run by the federal government of Nigeria which was setup in pursuant to decree 9 of the 1992 constitution. This statutory organ is being run under the supervision of the federal ministry of health, with the sole aim of regulating and controlling the practice of Pharmacy, determining professional standards in Pharmacy and securing the establishment and maintenance of registers of Pharmacists here in Nigeria.

As a community pharmacist who wishes to own his or her own private pharmacy, there is no way you can have that dream pharmacy here in Nigeria without registering with this important body. Leaving out PCN, you will also have to register your business name with the Corporate Affairs Commission also for legitimacy.

Don’t worry much because this article will put you through this process. It is always wise to have a little prerequisite knowledge about something in order not to look as a total newbie to the registrars. This will cut out any chances of them exploiting you also.

Don’t you think you we should take this lesson orderly? I guess you said “Yes”, so we will first outline them and then look into each and every one of them.

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Read Also: How to be successful as a young Pharmacist in Nigeria

1. Registering with the Corporate Affairs commission

  • Requirements
  • Procedures

2. Registering with the Pharmacist council of Nigeria

  • Requirements
  • Procedures

1. Registering your business name with Corporate Affairs Commission

I assume that you must have already prepared some names for your Pharmacy. If you are going to run a pharmacy that has a brand and authority, then you will have to register it with the corporate affairs commission.

The process of registering a business name can efficiently be compared to that of registering a domain name for a website. This is because you will have to submit your desired business name and check if it’s available or if it was already taken by another fast guy.

CAC is the body that takes care of registering businesses here in Nigeria. They check to ensure that no two businesses have similar names. You can register your business name either by yourself or through the service of a lawyer.

But why need a lawyer when you can actually get the registration done by yourself. It’s no big deal as you will see.

Requirements for registration with CAC

  • 2 recent passport photographs
  • 2 business names (in which one will serve as an alternative if they other is not available)
  • Details of a partner (your partner can be anyone you trust; ideally, your wife or child)
  • Your partner’s passport photograph
  • Your address
  • Phone number
  • Other basic information regarding yourself (like local Government Area etc)

Procedures for Registering with CAC

The requirements listed above will only be needed after your desired business name is confirmed available but it’s necessary that you put them in place so that once your business name is confirmed available, you can then proceed to get your business name registered.

To register your business name, locate the nearest CAC office and request for the name reservation form. You will have to pay for the form (usually 200 naira or more since prices of things do change) after which you will be issued a receipt for payment and the requested form.

Now, you will have to fill the form with the correct details. Your personal information like name and address will be required together with your 2 business names and type of business you wish to register.

CAC will then search their database to check if your business name is available or not. This checking can take up to 2 weeks or more and if at the end of the checking, unfortunately your desired business name is not available, you will have to supply another business name with the same fee of N200 which might change.

Once your business name is found available, you can then proceed to make the full registration as soon as possible to avoid another person taking your business name after the stipulated days are off. It is in this full registration phase that you will supply the requirements listed above.

You will then be given a file with forms for you to supply some information after which you will submit to them for verification (this is just to check how you filled the form and usually takes an hour or more). When you are done with the verification, you can proceed to pay your registration fee which was charged at N4, 000 as at last year.

After fee payment, you will then be issued a certificate and other useful documents which you have to keep carefully. That’s how simple it is!

Read Also: New Steps to Register and Incorporate Your Business in Nigeria to PLC or LTD

2. Registration with the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN)

Provisional registration with PCN commences right after your induction. The attending PCN official will have you fill the Form F,  Oath certificates with your  names already type,  Certificates of provision registration (Form G) written and endorsed by the Registrar, your permanent home address usually completed during the interactive session.  These certificates are sealed with the official seal.

The above stated registration was just provisional (temporary). For full registration as a Pharmacist, your files will be forwarded to the full registration unit from the provisional registration unit where all the files are re-assessed to ensure that you met the requirements stated below:

  • Application for provisional registration (Form F) with the appropriate fee
  • Photocopy of oath certificate
  • Photocopy of certificate of provisional registration (Form G)
  • Photocopy of school result and certificate of birth
  • Original copy of application to commence internship training programme (Form F/2)
  • Original copy of certificate of experience (Form D) from PCN accredited internship centre. The date of commencement of training on the Form D must tarry with that on the Form F/2 and the training must have lasted for 12 calendar months
  • Completed application to register as a Pharmaceutical Chemist (Form C) with the appropriate fee
  • Application for retention of name in the register (with the appropriate fee) for the current year.

After meeting the requirements, you will be successfully registered as a pharmacist. To start your own pharmacy, you will have to register your premise with PCN as will be discussed below

How to Register a Premise with PCN

  1. Register your business name with CAC as discussed above.
  2. Get the location for your pharmacy and check for approval. The requirements for a location approval is that
  3. It must be at least 30 square meters for retail, 50 square meters for wholesale, a warehouse for imported goods and an office. The ceiling height must be at least 3.05 meters.
  4. The location must be 200 meters from any nearby registered pharmacy
  5. The location must not be in a market place, Motor Park or an environment where commercial activities and enterprises are standing very close to each other. Any pharmaceutical premises surrounded or covered completely by a growing market shall be moved to a new location, two years after formal notification to do so by PCN
  6. A plaza can only have two to three premises

After meeting the above requirements, you then proceed further by forwarding the below listed documents to PCN:

  • Application for registration of new premises
  • Completed forms B and J
  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Memorandum and Article of Association
  • Certified True Copy of Form Co7 showing the name of the Pharmacist Director
  • Appropriate fee in bank draft (the fee will be communicated to you at their office and can be paid online too through remita)
  • Inspection report (From DPS or PIC)
  • Current Annual License to practice of Pharmacist Director
  • Letter of resignation and acceptance of resignation from former employer of Pharmacist it previously employed
  • Particulars of first Directors of Company
  • NYSC discharge Certificate for new pharmacist

See: 15 Tips to Succeed as a Young Pharmacist in Nigeria

Once your location is approved and everything is settled, you will be given some documents and also note that you have to renew your license yearly. From here, you can then stock your pharmacy and watch your dream come true. Cheers!

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Patrick Okon

Patrick Okon is a content developer at InfoGuideNigeria.com. InfoGuide Nigeria is a team of Resource Persons and Consultants led by Ifiokobong Ibanga. Page maintained by Ifiokobong Ibanga. If you need a personal assistance on this topic, kindly contact us.

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