Governor Godswill Akpabio has called on Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria to consider building of drug manufacturing industry in Akwa Ibom State.

Chief Akpabio, who made the call yesterday when the executive members of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria led by its National President, Olumide Akintayo paid him a courtesy visit at Governor’s Office, Uyo.

Hev said as an investor, “I want to urge you (because you are investors) this is a place you can build your factory to manufacture drugs.

The ambience is right, there is peace and we have prepared the place for you by putting the requisite infrastructure in place. We have a large customer-base and you have opportunity to export because of the upcoming seaport”.

Akpabio used the opportunity to ask the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria to rid the profession of unqualified personnel, saying that “We depend so much on you. You can do more for the Nigerian society and I urge you to do more. Help us remove quacks from your profession by setting up a monitoring unit.

“You must set up a robust monitoring team to monitor what you are doing. For you to be very successful, you must monitor even the curriculum of the various universities so that they don’t end up producing graduates that do not know anything about Pharmacy”, he advised.

The Governor attributed the success of the Uncommon Transformation of Akwa ibom State to having a monitoring team to monitor all the projects in the State, pointing out that “This is the secret of the success of Uncommon Transformation of our State. We have a set of monitoring team made up of engineers, architects, estate valuers and headed by a Special Adviser.

“They ensure that all the projects going on the State meet standard and are done according to specifications. So, the monitoring unit is something you must invest strongly for you to succeed. I do know that you have existed for the past 87 years. I know that you must have learnt enough in the 87th years of your existence and I cannot advise you in five minutes,” he said.

The National President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Mr. Akintayo who said the association was in the state for its 87th Annual Conference, lauded Governor Akpabio for the transformation of the State.

According to him, “I think you have gone also beyond the borders of Akwa Ibom. You have become a big national figure with regards to the politics of this nation. And I think we can’t but simply declare that you are indeed a shining metaphor in a well-known nationalistic idiom.”