Chief Adetunji Amole, a foremost pharmacist, Proprietor/Chairman of the popular Oluyole Chemists, Ibadan, celebrates his 80th birthday today. He went down the memory lane in this exclusive interview with Newscoven.ng on his journey in the world of Pharmacy and also expressed regrets about the Nigerian State.
Oluyole Chemists is a popular brand in the Pharmacy profession in Ibadan and beyond. What is the motivation for the name, Oluyole?
It was principally because I am a native of Ibadan. You know Oluyole was an Ibadan warrior. That is why I named it after him because I was born in Ibadan.
You were born in an era when the fad was to go for Law, Medicine, Engineering and even Teaching. What informed your decision to study Pharmacy?
At the time I was about going to school to study Pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, there were less than 200 pharmacists in the whole country. That was what informed my decision to become a pharmacist, rather than studying Medicine or any other profession.
Even it was more competitive then to want to be a pharmacist than to study Medicine because there were only few Pharmacy schools in the whole country then; I think there were only three. And the admission quota was very small since it has to do with equipment and human resources too. There were not many lecturers of Pharmacy at that time.
Looking back, can you say that you are fulfilled as a pharmacist?
Yes, I feel fulfilled as a pharmacist. This is in the sense that I was able to render services. Most of the time, doctors, especially from teaching hospitals, when they are in short supply of specialised drugs, they run to me and we were able to source for the drugs for them from abroad most of the time, and at little costs. So, I have a great sense of fulfilment that, as a pharmacist, I was able to render such services.
In the course of the years as a pharmacist, did you at any point in time have any sense of regret that could have made you to go for Medicine or any other lucrative profession?
No, I never for once had any sense of regrets as a pharmacist. This is because I was even in a position to correct doctors when they make mistakes on prescriptions. This is what pharmacists should be doing. We didn’t have that type of arrangement at that time but I was able to do that. When they bring prescriptions to me, I was able to call doctors and say ‘ah, this is too low or this is too high’. That is one of the reasons I will say I don’t have any regrets at all as a pharmacist.
Do you have any of your children as a pharmacist?
Oh yes! I have two of them who are pharmacists; the first born and second born- Mrs Folasade Olasore and Adewole Amole, respectively.
That is very interesting. Did you play any role in their becoming pharmacists?
Not at all! They chose, on their own, to be pharmacists. If I had influenced their decision, I have four children, I could as well influenced the other two to become pharmacists too. This would have been very easy for me to do since they have their two older siblings in front of them who are pharmacists.
If you look at the contemporary times and what was in operation in your own period when there was quality control, how do you feel with the increasing cases of quackery in almost all sectors, but especially in Pharmacy where we are dealing with lives?
They have bastardised the profession because there are so many interlopers now. Those who are not supposed to be there are there in the profession as pharmacists. And a lot of people who are even there have made Pharmacy a business and it is not supposed to be so. Most of them are running Pharmacy as if they are selling gaari and beans or any commodity.
We have so many problems now and this is one of the reasons people should be careful of where they purchase their medicaments. The people have to be going to where integrity is really not in question when they want to purchase their prescriptions.
What are the efforts put in place to checkmate some of the problems we are having in the profession?
Yes, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PCN) is really working hard to checkmate those interlopers who are doing all sort of things that are anti-thetical to the profession. For example, we have what we called the Pharmaceutical Inspection Committee (PIC) in every state of the country. It is a committee of the PCN which is the regulatory body to Pharmacy. From time to time, the Committee would go round to regulate the practice of the profession as such and also to impose penalties on those who are not doing the right thing.
Personally, is there any form of collaboration between you and the government to ensure quality control and enhance the practice of the profession in terms of the medicaments that we have and how they are being administered?
Yes, in some states. Right now, Oluyole Chemists is in partnership with the Oyo State government at the Jericho Specialist Hospital. We have been there for years and we can say, with every sense of modesty, that we have been able to supply the right products to moderate the profession as such.
The partnership between the Oyo State government and Oluyole Chemists is Public Private Partnership (PPP) project and I think the government is also happy with us that we are doing that for them. It is a mutually beneficial project.
You earlier said Pharmacy is about rendering services. But how profitable and financially rewarding is the profession?
Well right now, it may sound unprofitable because people are cutting corners in the profession and if you are cutting corners, it will not be profitable to you. Oluyole Chemists is not prepared or ready to cut corners. We are still maintaining our standards. For example, we would not sell controlled drugs without prescriptions; drugs like Lexotan, Valium and many others. We will not sell such without prescriptions. Whereas, some others will want to make money and forget the regulations.
Many pharmaceutical companies are closing shops due to the general economic downturn. We are importing some of these drugs that we are supposed to be producing here in the country. What do you think can be done to bring us back to the good old days when we had Phensic, Cafenol and other quality drugs that were easily available and affordable for the people?
What is affecting importation generally in Nigeria is actually affecting the Pharmacy sector because of the exchange rate. It will be a good idea if most of these products can be manufactured here. But because we don’t have electricity and because there are so many logistics that we have to battle with if you want to manufacture as a pharmacist, that makes it difficult if you want to manufacture here. So people rather prefer to import finished products than to manufacture here. Because if you want to manufacture here with the present situation in the country; you will have to source for your power and water; you will have to battle with insecurity and many other factors.
That brought us to a very germane question. You were born and brought up in an era that could rightly be called golden in the course of the history of Nigeria. Is this the country of your dream?
Certainly not; this is not the Nigeria of my dream. If I had to go back; if I have to redo what I have done in the past, I will do it in a better way. I was not prepared for a situation like this in this country. It is very regrettable that we have found ourselves in this situation now.
You think of when a dollar is 67 Kobo and you could do so many things. When I graduated, the first year, I was able to have a furnished apartment from my salary. I was able to do so many things; I was able to give stipends to my relatives without borrowing.
But as US$1 is about N1000 now, my native economics will tell me that what US$1 can buy in the United States of America, N1000 cannot buy it in Nigeria. That is very sad. It is not even enough to say US$1 is equivalent to N1000 because your N1000 cannot buy what the US$1 can buy. This is a cause for concern.
Many are heaping the blames on successive leaders and administrations in the country. Some people are now saying what is happening in some African countries like Mali and Niger Republic should happen in Nigeria. Do you subscribe to this too?
Yes, because our administrative cost is very heavy. To me, military regime is cheaper to run. It is only unfortunate that the military itself has been seriously politicised. But generally, military government is a lot cheaper to run. We don’t really need the bi-camera National Assembly running heavy bills on behalf of the people of Nigeria.
It is a pity that the Labour Movement- the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC)- instead of going on strike against the huge wage bills that the National Assembly and other political office holders are having, they are just chasing shadows. They cannot achieve much.
The problem we have is that most of our incomes and revenues go into servicing debts and running a very expensive system of government. So, I will rather say the military regime is not bad. It is only that it is an aberration.
But don’t you think that even the military is part of our problems for failing to give us a good and people-oriented constitution, having been in power for several years?
We have to redo the constitution so that every part of the country can manage its own resources in a way that suits it and to the benefit of its people. This should be done, rather than saying we are going to the Centre, cap-in-hand and the Centre will be dictating what the units should do because all the revenue comes from the Centre. I think it will be better if we have a new constitution.
As things are, is there any hope for this country?
There is hope, if only the people can be patient and if we are lucky enough to have the right people in place…
Do we have the right people in place now?
I want to believe that we have them in place. If you give them two years…they are not magicians. We have to give them some time for them to put their acts together.
And you think we can have such, with all these diversionary issues over certificates and qualifications?
It is a pity that we found ourselves in this situation that a controversial person is the head now. It is a pity. I am sure that he himself did not envisage a situation like this because most of the things we are talking about now happened over forty years ago. They happened at a time he was not even thinking of attaining the position he found himself now.
You see, there are two things you should not aspire to do at all in your life: don’t aspire to become an oba and don’t aspire to do politics, otherwise what you did 50 years ago would be exhumed for the whole world to see.
But why can’t one aspire to be an oba or to occupy an elective public office, if you are morally upright 50 years ago?
Well, yes you can, if you don’t have any skeleton in your cupboard. There is nothing wrong with it. But in all, let us be hopeful. Anybody can become born again. I believe our president is born again and I am sure that he has had enough of his own problems and he will want to, at least, redeem his image.
