Pharmacists Board Of Nigeria & Ors V. S.O. Adebesin & Co. Ltd (1978)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

FATAYI-WILLIAMS, J.S.C. 

Section 22 subsections 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the Poisons and Pharmacy Act (Cap. 152 of the Laws of the Federation) as amended by the Pharmacists Act (No. 26 of 1964) provide as follows:-

“22 (1) Every selling dispenser or chemist and druggist shall cause all the sets of premises where his business is being carried on to be registered under this section.

(2) An application for registration under this section shall be made in the manner prescribed by regulations, and it shall be the duty of the Registrar to keep, in accordance with the provisions of the regulations, a register for the purposes of this section, in this Act referred to as the register of premises, and, on payment of such fee as is hereinafter provided, to enter therein all sets of premises in respect of which an application for registration is duly made.

(3) On an application for registration under this section, there shall be payable such fee in respect of the registration of any set of premises, as may be prescribed by regulations, and the owner of the business carried on in any premises entered in the register shall pay such fee, in this section referred to as a retention fee, in respect of the retention of the premises on the register of premises in any year subsequent to the year in which the premises were first registered under this section in pursuance of an application made by him.

(5) The registration of any premises under this section shall become void on the expiration of fourteen days from the date of any change in the ownership of the business carried on therein.

(6) A document purporting to be a certificate signed by the Registrar stating that, on a specified date, specified premises were, or were not, registered under this sections shall be admissible in any proceedings as evidence that those premises were, or were not, registered on that date.”

Section 37 of the same Act provides further as follows:-

“37 (1) Nothing in this Act contained shall operate to prevent any body corporate, a company as defined in the Companies Act or a firm as defined in the Registration of Business Names Act, carrying on a business which comprises the dispensing or selling of any drug or poison within the meaning of this Act from carrying on such business if the following conditions are complied with:-

(a) in all premises where the business is carried on, the business must, so far as concerns the dispensing or sale of drugs or poisons, be carried on under the direct personal control and management of a superintendent who is a selling dispenser or a chemist and druggist;

(b) every sale of poison must be effected on behalf of such body corporate, company or firm by a person who is a selling dispenser or a chemist and druggist; and

(c) no drug or poison shall be mixed, prepared, compounded or dispensed on behalf of such body corporate, company or firm except by a dispenser or chemist and druggist.”

(The underlining is ours)

The Pharmacy Regulations (Cap. 152) which provide for the mechanics of the registration of the premises required to be registered under the Act state in Regulations 21 and 22 as follows:-