OBJECTIVE: To establish the need to include designated community (private) pharmacies/pharmacists in the Lagos State DOTS programme for effective control of Tuberculosis METHOD: A cross sectional descriptive study involving the use of semi structured questionnaires administered to a random sample of an estimated population(150) of community pharmacists in Lagos State of Nigeria. Data was analysed by use of SPSS 12 RESULTS: The results show that: 86.8% of respondents stocked anti-TB drugs; 67.2% of them had dispensed these drugs at least within the immediate past one month preceding survey; 19.3% of them were patronised daily and 43.3% dispensed without a doctors prescription. 63.7% of respondents did not acknowledge that TB drugs were given to patients free of charge anywhere, 43.4% did not know about DOTS; 89.2% were of the opinion that community pharmacies would help increase TB control coverage, 68.1% would accept to render DOTS services in their pharmacies out of which 15.5% would do that at no costs. 80.9% of respondents claimed that a pharmacist is on duty in their pharmacies throughout open hours; however most were not seen until after several visits. 1.4% of the pharmacists were of the opinion that TB is incurable while 8.3% said TB runs in families, however 75.8% reported that most HIV patients present with TB co-infection.CONCLUSION: Designated community pharmacies that meet basic ethical requirements with regards to environment, facilities,location and personnel should be accredited to render DOTS services for effective and efficient grass root TB control, especially in places like Nigeria where TB is on the increase as a result of HIV pandemic.This will improve proper monitoring and patients compliance by reducing travel time, cost and risk of travel to clinics, social stigmatisation, waiting time, and generally reduce the real cost of treatment for patients, with an assured wider coverage.