Pharmacist Salary Guide In Nigeria

Payroll

The two major things students consider in any career is the job prospect and salary. Passion is not actually part of career consideration. The job prospect is quite high. However, this post is about to cover the other aspect which is the salary structure for the pharmacist at different levels. The reason is that pharmacist are never unemployed. They can only be underpaid.

A pharmacist can either work for another or be self-employed. Self-employed enjoy more money more than working for another person. The risk and time before talking about benefits can be daunting for those who venture into a self-employ path.

Salary Of Pharmacist

Self-Employed Pharmacist

By self-employ, I mean a pharmacist that own his/her own business. The self-employed pharmacist may make money depending on several factors. For a standard pharmaceutical shop in a good location can boast of ₦200000 a week and this figure could go as high as ₦700000 plus. For a pharmaceutical shop that is not in a strategic location, at least ₦200000 is not too high. This figure is from a recent poll.
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The truth is that pharmacist that are into importation can make money at a different level and the level of activities. They normally make millions. However, this value is somewhat higher for those that manufacture. The more the products, the likely the possibility of a higher pay. Let me not bore this post with the pharmacist that are self-employed as their gains vary due to so many factors. This post is actually on pharmacist employed by another.
Federal or state government including private firms can employ the services of the pharmacist. I cannot say if the local government also do employ them. The federal government have hospitals scattered in different establishments like army, naval, air force and hospitals like federal medical centers. Others include pharmaceutical industry like National Institute For Pharmaceutical Research And Development (N.I.P.R.I.D) and regulatory agencies like National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (N.D.L.E.A), National Agency For Food And Drug Administration And Control (N.A.F.D.A.C), Pharmacists Council Of Nigeria (P.C.N) etc. state government, on the other hand, employs pharmacist in most hospital settings. Both federal and state government have schools for pharmacy lecturers. The private establishment includes pharmaceutical industry and community pharmacy.
A pharmacist can work full time or part-time. This affects the salary a lot especially if it is a private company. Some pharmacist leases their licence yearly for a fee for non-pharmacist to establish a pharmaceutical business or to a fellow pharmacist to open a new branch of a company.

Pupil Pharmacist Salary

Popularly refers to as intern pharmacist, they can find themselves in various sector. The government or private sector can head these sectors. This affects the pay as well as the work. Below are the salary of an intern pharmacist at different pharmaceutical sector.

Community Pharmacy

The time of work for each day here is quite high. The work could be a difficult one if the shop is strategically located. These variables contribute to the salary paid to the pharmacist. Generally, a community pharmacist that is not very busy will pay about ₦60000 to interns’ pharmacist for a month. For those pharmacy shops in more open location, the interns can receive up to ₦100000 a month.

Hospital

Private Sector

The salary is not usually static for the different hospitals as some pay ₦60000 per month while others can pay as high as ₦100000.

State hospital

Including tax, state hospitals pay about ₦120000 to ₦130000 a month.

Federal hospitals

They include Federal medical centres, naval hospitals, army hospitals, air force etc pay fairly well between ₦115000 – ₦125000.

Industry Pharmacy

The pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria pays different rate to interns pharmacy. The money they make differs from one company to the other. This is the reason the salary they pay interns varies and differs. It ranges from ₦80000 to ₦150000 for a month.

Regulatory Agencies

They pay one of the highest for pharmacy interns. They are all usually above ₦120000 in a month.

Locum Pharmacist

Throughout the one-year internship periods, some pharmacist engages in what is referred to as locum. This is a very short time spent at the community pharmacy shop some days in the week. The pay here could range from ₦30000 – ₦60000 per month.

National Youth Service Corps (N.Y.S.C) pharmacist

The basic salary of all NYSC is ₦19800. The benefits come for the pharmacist who is posted to a state with a good state and local government. Most state and local government contribute their quarter to the salary of the pharmacist. The pharmacist in some local government receives up to ₦30000 in a month. Some other locations, the government establishment may just give you transport fare. That is not all as the pharmacist can apply for a locum.

Pharmacist Salary

The salary structure for the pharmacist is different for each sector of the government. They have different labels. The salary structure in the hospital is on Consolidated Health Salary Structure (C.O.N.H.E.S.S). The one for academic is Consolidated University Academic structure (C.O.N.A.U.S.S)

Federal And State Hospital Salary

The starting salary for a federal staff is about ₦170000 while a state hospital pharmacist will start with about ₦160000 in a month. Entry level is CONHESS 9. This is reviewed after some years probably 3 or 5 years. This is besides other allowance such as working in a riverine community, shift etc. Due to promotion after some working years or in acquiring more degree, the monthly salary could be as high as ₦600000. The highest paying hospital as of today is the Federal Neuropsychiatric hospital in Lagos whose starting salary is rumoured to clock ₦320000 a month.

Community Pharmacy

The salary for a pharmacist who chooses community pharmacy shop varies a lot for several reasons. The more time work, the higher the pay. Other factors include workload. ₦100000 – ₦240000 is the salary range. Superintendent pharmacist could receive as high as ₦300000 in a month.

Those who wish to lease our their licences do charge either monthly, quarterly or yearly. The average monthly payment is ₦50000.

Industrial Pharmacist

The different pharmacist will receive different salary depending on the department they work in. To explain better, the following is the basic salary for the different department.

The National Association of industrial pharmacist (NAIP) has a harmonised salary structure for pharmacist which starts from ₦350,000 at entry level and can be higher with increased responsibilities.

Giving out licence to a pharmaceutical industry usually comes with more benefits than community pharmacy. They usually give their licences out at fees more than ₦50000 monthly. Giving out you licence to industry is usually ₦120000 monthly especially importation.

Sales Representative

Honestly, these people are in money in Nigeria. Some are provided with a personal car beside their salary. The higher their turn up, the higher their salary. However, the salary usually ranges from ₦150000 – ₦1000000 monthly. The junior sales representative receives a lower wage than his senior colleague.

Assistant Production Manager

A position like this will generate a lot of money because the work requires critical thinking in assisting the production manager. The salary is about ₦600000 in a month.

Production Manager

The head of the unit will expect to earn a very high amount in terms of pay. They should expect to receive above ₦1000000 and above every month.

Pharmacist In Academia

Two lecturers can be on the same salary grade but receive different pay at the end of the day. This normally happens if they work for a different university. Federal pay is usually higher in most places than the state. However, this is not the case in delta as the salary of same level lecturer in University Of Benin (UNIBEN) is less than that of a lecturer at Delta State University (Delsu). Therefore, the location in an oil-rich state is an advantage. Private school lecturers receive the highest but depend on the school.
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However, this is beside allowances from lecture hours, examination, etc. at the end of the day, they go home with a very high amount depending on the level of activity the lecturer engage in. some even lectures in two or more schools as adjuncts staff.
The salary structure is as follows
Level    Salary (per annum) (₦)
Lecturer II CONUASS 3    164900 – 1970000
Lecturer I CONAUSS 4    20798000 – 2684000
Senior lecturer CONAUSS 5 (assistant lecturer CONAUSS 5)    30910000 – 4455000 (1653000 – 3348000)
Reader CONAUSS 6    3768000 – 5004000
Professor CONAUSS 7    4580000 – 6020000
Because pharmacy lecture hours are more, there is a likely possibility that the salary will increase tremendously. If a school pays ₦3000 for an hour lecture, a pharmacy lecturer can lecture up to 50 hours in a month. In addition, deans, heads of departments, examination supervisors will be paid administrative duties.
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