Sowore spoke at the conference alongside his counterpart in the Social Democratic Party, Prince Adewole Adebayo, where he advocated better funding for the health sector.
He shared pictures from the event on his Twitter handle on Friday. He captioned them, “Yesterday (Thursday) in Jos at 95th Annual Conference Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria!’
The highlight of his speech was “They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing” quoting a French diplomat, Charles Michele De Talleyrand.
The programme was themed ‘Medicine Security in an Unstable Economy.’
In the flyer of the event sighted by our correspondent, the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress and the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi, respectively, were also listed as speakers at the conference.
Sowore talked about committing 5% (instead of 1%) of the Consolidated Revenue to Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, if he emerged President.
Among other things, he said he would ensure “Contribution fund for health from well-meaning Nigerians.
“Mandatory enrollment of all Nigerians in the National Health Insurance Scheme and promote Universal Health Coverage
“Review and regulate the role of health maintenance organisation in health insurance.
“Commit 15% of our National Budget to health within four years.”
He also advocated “Increase the number of pharmacists from 0.07 to 1000 citizens to at least 23 to 1000 citizens.”
The PUNCH gathered that other presidential candidates such as those of the APC and the Labour Party sent representatives, as Obi and Tinubu were absent.
Tinubu has consistently been absent at events meant for presidential candidates, such as the Nigerian Bar Association conference in Lagos as well as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria’s conference which held in Abuja.
