The Executive Order recently signed by President Bola Tinubu to increase local production of healthcare products has elicited commendations from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), the National Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria and other stakeholders. While the NAFDAC boss, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the order was vital for the success of the nation’s health sector renewal initiative, the President of the PSN, Prof. Cyril Usifo, lauded the President for the order.
He also called on the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, to come up with complementary measures to quickly check the rising prices of drugs. In the same vein, the National Chairman of the National Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Adewale Oladigbolu, said the executive order would stabilise the prices of drugs for a while.
Before signing the executive order, the prices of essential drugs have reportedly risen by 150 to 200 per cent. Due to high cost of drugs, some Nigerians have resorted to self-medication and herbal remedies. According to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, the executive order will accelerate the local production of healthcare products, including pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, needles and syringes, among others.
It is cheering that under the initiative, pharmaceutical inputs such as specified machinery, equipment and raw materials will attract zero tariffs, excise duties and Value Added Tax (VAT). Some of the pharmaceutical inputs include active pharmaceutical ingredients, excipients and other essential raw materials needed for manufacturing of drugs and other healthcare consumables.
The federal government’s plan to reduce the rising prices of essential drugs and encourage the local production of drugs and other medical consumables is commendable and timely. While there is nothing wrong with encouraging the local production of pharmaceutical products, the government must evolve pragmatic measures to end the mass exodus of multinational firms from the country, including pharmaceutical companies.
Since it will take between one and two years to set up a drug manufacturing plant, there is urgent need to import essential drugs to reduce the rising cost of drugs. However, the envisaged gains of the new executive order to enhance local manufacturing of drugs will be a mirage if the government cannot quickly fix the nation’s limping power sector. We say this because drug manufacturing plants will require adequate power supply to function effectively. The hospitals will need regular power supply to be able to stock some drugs, reagents and other medical consumables.
No doubt, the exit of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Ltd and other manufacturing companies from Nigeria has led to the scarcity of their products and astronomical rise in the prices of essential drugs. The situation might have led to the importation of adulterated drugs to fill the huge gap. Over 70 per cent of drugs used in Nigeria are imported mostly from India, China, France and Germany.
As at Q3 of 2023, Nigeria’s importation of drugs rose by 68 per cent due mainly to the exit of GSK and Aventis and foreign exchange volatility. Nigeria imported drugs and other medical consumables worth N81.81 billion from July to September 2023. This shows an increase of 68 per cent from the N48.74 billion worth of imported drugs in the same period of 2022.
In the 2024 national budget, a total of N1.3 trillion or 4.6 per cent was allocated to the health sector. Although the 4.6 per cent of the budget is far below the 15 per cent benchmark approved by African leaders in Abuja in 2001, a huge percentage of the allocation will be spent on importation of drugs. This trend can only be reversed if the nation can manufacture most of its essential drugs.
If the government’s plan is effectively implemented, it is going to be a game changer towards indigenous manufacturing of our drug needs. It will also quicken the pace of achieving 70 per cent target of manufacturing essential drugs in Nigeria. For the government to achieve this lofty dream, it must do something urgently to reduce the brain drain in the health sector.
The exodus of Nigerian health personnel, especially pharmacists, medical scientists and health technicians, will work against the government’s vision to increase local manufacture of essential drugs and other pharmaceuticals. However, the revitalisation of the nation’s health sector will not be achieved without fundamentally addressing the welfare of all categories of the nation’s health workers.