Veterinary Drug Regulation and Quality Assurance in Nigeria: A Professional Review of Implementation in the South East Zone

This study provides a professional review of veterinary drug regulation and quality assurance implementation in the South East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, encompassing Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi States. The quality and regulatory compliance of veterinary drugs in circulation are fundamental determinants of treatment efficacy and antimicrobial resistance outcomes, yet regulatory implementation in Nigeria is uneven across zones. Using a professional regulatory audit design, 60 registered agroveterinary retail outlets and 10 veterinary pharmaceutical distribution depots across the five South East states were assessed for compliance with the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) drug regulation and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) standards. Compliance assessments covered licensing, drug storage conditions, cold chain maintenance, record-keeping, sale of prescription-only drugs without prescriptions, and stocking of counterfeit or expired products. Drug samples were collected for quality assurance testing by HPLC and disc diffusion. Findings revealed that only 38 percent of assessed outlets met full licensing requirements. Temperature-sensitive drugs were improperly stored in 64 percent of outlets. Prescription-only antimicrobials were dispensed without prescription in 88 percent of tested transactions. Quality assurance testing detected substandard drug content in 22 percent of sampled products. The study recommends strengthened NAFDAC and VCN enforcement presence in the South East, digital prescription tracking systems, and mandatory pharmacovigilance training for veterinary drug retailers. Keywords: veterinary drug regulation, quality assurance, South East Nigeria, antimicrobial, pharmacovigilance.