‘Govt needs to fund research institutes for increased basic raw materials’

By Merit Ibe   

With local sourcing of raw materials still very low, Nigerian manufacturers have urged the Federal Government to fund research institutions and incentivise investment and production through backward integration initiatives.

According to the local producers, an urgent need for investment and production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) in the country as well as necessary raw materials for production should be adequately incentivised to encourage private investments.

Last year, local sourcing of raw materials among manufacturers in Nigeria declined by five percent in 2021 as scarcity, logistics challenge and insecurity took a toll on the supply chain, according to reports from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).

In the recent economic review for the second half of 2021, MAN revealed that local sourcing of raw materials averaged 52.4 percent in 2021 which is a drop from the 57.5 percent achieved in 2020 during the pandemic.

Chairman, Apapa branch of MAN, Frank Onyebu, emphasised the need  for  research so the country can manufacture basic raw materials  to improve on backward integration. “Most of our companies  get their inputs from abroad. We need to manufacture such basic inputs, if we don’t, when issues such as the pandemic arise again, we   will be in a big trouble. Government needs to start building all sectors from the scratch. We need to get into research; we are not doing enough, the universities need funding to go into research to boost the sectors. Government needs to fund the private research institutions and  universities so that we can get the basic raw  materials we need for our pharmaceutical industry and others. The earlier we start the better for the country.”

He pointed out that most exporters might want to transfer their technology to the country, but for the harsh environment, noting that the problem of lack of facilities and equipment for processing can be solved with transfer of technology from investors abroad. “We need equipment, but we need to ensure we create the right environment, so that private institutions can come in with their equipment.”