Boosting Nigeria’s drug security
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) last week warned that the country might soon face imminent drug shortage. The Director-General of the organisation, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, pointed out that the scourge of coronavirus (COVID-19) currently plaguing China has put Nigeria in grave danger of drug insecurity, since the country relies on the Asian nation for most of her drug imports.
According to her, China’s inability to urgently find a lasting cure to the virus may necessitate greater global restrictions on its exports, especially medicines. She bemoaned Nigeria’s lack of capacity for drug manufacturing and advocated that urgent attention be paid to local manufacturing of drugs. “Up to 70 per cent of Nigerian drugs are imported. We import virtually everything from active, non-active ingredients and equipment,” she said.
The observation of the NAFDAC boss, though true, is saddening. It is a shame that for decades, Nigeria has continued to perform below average in virtually all indices of development. That the most populous black nation on the planet still depends on other nations for virtually all its needs, including its medicines, underscores our level of under-development. It is a testament to our leaders’ lack of foresight as well as a glaring indifference to the conscientious formulation of ideas.
Nigeria boasts of over a hundred drug manufacturing companies, which, sadly, cannot meet up with the drug needs of the populace. At present, hardly do the nation’s pharmaceutical companies supply as much as 30 per cent of the nation’s drug needs. Many of the pharmaceutical companies rely more on drug imports.
Concerned pharmacists have decried the situation. Last year, pharmacists in the country made recommendations on how local production of essential medicines could be increased to boost drug security.
President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, and Chairman Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), Dr. Okey Akpa, stated that it was imperative that the Federal Government paid attention to pharmaceutical manufacturing in the country. The duo advocated an increase in the local production of essential drugs to about 75 per cent. The pharmacists also implored the Federal Government to approve an expansion fund of N300 billion for pharmaceutical manufacturers, an amount they said would help improve their facilities to meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standard.
The pharmacists stated that it is far easier importing drugs to the country than producing locally.
Other factors that have impeded local manufacturing of medicines are lack of accessible raw materials, poor quality of some pharmaceuticals, and lack of processing equipment. Some of them also cited government policies, including the National Drug Policy 2005, which according to them, had been unfair to the local drug manufacturers.
The government and some affluent Nigerians should invest in the production of local drugs. Laboratories should be established for the purpose of drug production while grants should be made available to local drug manufacturers. We urge the government to be consistent with its policies on local drug manufacturing. It must support Nigerian drug manufacturing firms as well as multinational firms producing drugs in the country. However, there is need to ensure that only genuine professionals are involved in drug production. Government should also support local pharmaceutical firms by investing in research and development to boost local sourcing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) needed in the production of drugs.
Government should look into the complaint by some pharmacists that the Common External Tariff for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS CET) was wrongly applied to the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Government should also do something about their claim that finished pharmaceutical products are being imported into the country at a zero duty tariff while manufacturing inputs attracted import duty tariffs ranging between five and 25 per cent. Such a policy, they claim, have forced some local drug manufacturers to close down.
We recommend that the importation of certain pharmaceutical products be prohibited to help grow the local capacity to manufacture them. Government must also practise what it preaches by encouraging its officials to patronise Nigerian drug manufacturers.
