Hi, i am a graduate of biochemistry with a 2.2 and i graduated in 2008, since after my service last year i haven't really had a good paying job. My sponsor is willing to foot d bill to begin a pharmacy career and i am really tinkin of Msc . Although i have always wanted to b pharmacist but am havin doubts cos of d lenght of d program.
Please NL,i need advice on wot path to follow as i am in a confused state wether to go 4 a masters degree in any of these fields ;biotechnology ,pharmacology, public health, enviromental science or just go for a second degree in pharmacy .
How lucrative is it in 2days labor market.
Please your views will b highly appreciated

Apart from the fact that msc is 2yrs or less and bpharm is 5yrs or more, i'd choose an msc in this case (cos it'd give me more options.)

If your sole objective is to become stupendously wealthy. . . .Stay the f&ck out of sciences, except of course if you are exceptionally brilliant enough to come up with a penile enlargement drug that actually works!! (or anything else the world will gladly pay an arm and and a leg to have)

Pharmacists in the US might expect to get well paid given the somewhat shortage? of skills in this sector, but when you bring it home to Nigeria, our pharmacists are the people standing behind the local counters filling prescriptions. . .only a very small percentage make it to big industries where they can expect to get paid a satisfactory, not necessarily a handsome wage.

Obviously the views stated above are my personal perceptions of things, I'd obviously welcome the views of a pharmacist or any other person working within basic/pure or applied sciences on what the salary structure in the industry looks like.

Based on the opinion above, biotech seems to have the brightest future from your list.

Dont think its viable in Nigeria yet though.

MPH should easily get you a job with govt or intl agencies.

violent:

If your sole objective is to become stupendously wealthy. . . .Stay the f&ck out of sciences, except of course if you are exceptionally brilliant enough to come up with a penile enlargement drug that actually works!! (or anything else the world will gladly pay an arm and and a leg to have)

Pharmacists in the US might expect to get well paid given the somewhat shortage? of skills in this sector, but when you bring it home to Nigeria, our pharmacists are the people standing behind the local counters filling prescriptions. . .only a very small percentage make it to big industries where they can expect to get paid a satisfactory, not necessarily a handsome wage.

Obviously the views stated above are my personal perceptions of things, I'd obviously welcome the views of a pharmacist or any other person working within basic/pure or applied sciences on what the salary structure in the industry looks like.

Nigerian pharmacists don't stand behind counters per se. Most of the 'chemist' shops are just local patent medicine men. The local drug market has been all but wiped out by the influx of cheaper substitutes from India and Malaysia.

As per 'big companies', I presume you are referring to the likes of Pfizer and Glaxo Smith Kline. The pharmacists who work there are all glorified sales men, sales reps in fact.

AjanleKoko:

Nigerian pharmacists don't stand behind counters per se. Most of the 'chemist' shops are just local patent medicine men. The local drug market has been all but wiped out by the influx of cheaper substitutes from India and Malaysia.

As per 'big companies', I presume you are referring to the likes of Pfizer and Glaxo Smith Kline. The pharmacists who work there are all glorified sales men, sales reps in fact.

erhm, so, if the guys at the shops are the local patent medicine men and the little ones that made it to the pfizers of this world only work as glorified sales rep, where d hell are the thousands of graduates that are churned out by our Unis on a yearly basis?

My take is, they are all likely into business, doing runz, working with dad, looking for government contracts, lecturing, crime, or simply at home doing nothing?

violent:

erhm, so, if the guys at the shops are the local patent medicine men and the little ones that made it to the pfizers of this world only work as glorified sales rep, where d hell are the thousands of graduates that are churned out by our Unis on a yearly basis?

My take is, they are all likely into business, doing runz, working with dad, looking for government contracts, lecturing, crime, or simply at home doing nothing?

In reality, we don't actually churn out thousands of pharmacy grads.
I doubt up to 10 schools in Nigeria even offer pharmacy.

Well, nine schools do, actually. Check here.

@ Ajanlekoko

I left a question for you at the Telecomms Pro thread. Pls visit there to answer. Thank You

Lenzo:

Hi,  i am a graduate of biochemistry with a 2.2 and i graduated in 2008, since after my service last year i haven't really had a good paying job. My sponsor is willing to foot d bill to begin a pharmacy career and i am really tinkin of Msc . Although i have always wanted to b pharmacist but am havin doubts cos of d lenght of d program.
Please NL,i need advice on wot path to follow as i am in a confused state wether to go 4 a masters degree in any of these fields ;biotechnology ,pharmacology, public health, enviromental science or just go for  a second degree in pharmacy .
How lucrative is it in 2days labor market.
Please your views will b highly appreciated

You can only practice as a [i]registered [/i]pharmacist if you have a first, and not masters, degree in pharmacy.
getting a second degree in any of the areas of specialization may at best fetch you a lecturing job. I certainly will not advise that if you're looking for a high paying job.

The most lucrative offer right now is the federal hospital, which i believes pays a post Nysc pharmacist about 160k. (which in my view is still nothing to write home about, given the current economic situation)

I will however add that with your boichem degree, you can get a job with most pharmaceutical companies, especially the indigenous ones.

in fact, they usually go for those in the sciences over professional pharmacists. The pay ranges from 40-80k.