By Dayo Johnson, Akure

A World class, Chief Olu Akinkugbe, faculty of pharmacy building is to be constructed at the first specialised medical and health sciences university, the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo City, Ondo State 

Akinkugbe, is a renowned pharmacists, quintessential entrepreneur and business icon.

The contract for the Akinkugbe Pharmacy Education Trust (OAPET) in collaboration with the University was signed in Lagos.

The construction of phase I of the Faculty building was expected to be completed in fifty-two weeks.

Vice Chancellor, of the University, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi stressed the importance and the need to reposition pharmacy education in the country given the numerous challenges bedeviling the Nigerian health sector.

Fatusi said that ” There is an urgent need to address the palpable and critical gaps in our health sector, especially in the area of drug discovery and production.

“The University of Medical Sciences, Ondo is not only interested in becoming a one-stop institution for training in all health and medical sciences fields but also to address some of the major gaps currently existing in pharmacy education in Nigeria, and contributes towards addressing the human resource challenge in pharmacy practise.

“We cannot do things the same way and expect different results. Nigeria is in dire need of a pharmacy education programme that responds to the need of the 21st century, and our proposed programme will rise to the occasion. 

“Our university’s pharmacy education programme would have a strong focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and drug discovery.

“The Faculty will work in strong collaboration with the University’s Centre for Herbal Medicine and Drug Discovery to harness Nigeria’s natural resources of herbs, and promote drug development.

The Chairman, Board of Trustee, OAPET and former Minister of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, said the Faculty is designed as a centre of learning that will attract the brightest minds in Africa and beyond, creating a hub for collaboration to revolutionize the medical and pharmaceutical industry.

Adeluyi said that “This is a dream to be able to achieve a world-class faculty of pharmacy in a university like the University of Medical Sciences in Ondo to make the practice of pharmacy different and better than it is before, to set up a faculty that will meet global standards for pharmaceutical practice,” 

He called on members of the public to support the Board in building and equipping the proposed Faculty at university, assuring that donors will be immortalized.”