Nigeria Moving To End Drug Import Dependency – Health Minister

Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, says the federal government is taking bold steps to end Nigeria’s overreliance on imported pharmaceuticals, aiming instead to develop a robust local manufacturing sector.

Currently, an estimated 70 percent of medicines consumed in Nigeria are imported, a situation that experts say leaves the healthcare system vulnerable and unsustainable. However, Prof. Pate says the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is tackling the issue head-on.

Speaking on Channels Television on Thursday, Pate explained that the government had launched the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), a comprehensive strategy designed to revitalize Nigeria’s pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturing sectors.

“For decades, Nigeria has been systematically deindustrialized. We were dependent on imports of the most basic things, like generic pharmaceuticals, which we could have produced; yes, we did have some local manufacturers, but they struggled. They struggled because the policy environment was not structured,” the minister said.

“This administration tries to address it head-on, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu initiated an effort to unlock the healthcare value chain, what we call PVAC, with policy reforms and the executive order to reduce the tariffs on raw materials and manufacturing equipment,” he added.

The initiative also incorporates a Nigeria First policy to boost local content and encourage the consumption of Nigerian-made medical products.

According to Prof. Pate, these reforms are already yielding results, with increased investor interest and new pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities springing up across the country.

“Recently, we commissioned a manufacturing plant in Sagamu in Ogun State, and several others have now started setting up. One here in Abuja is able to produce 600 million test kits,” he noted.

“Two years ago, in all of Sub-Saharan Africa, there was no local manufacturer of rapid diagnostic kits, even to tell whether you have malaria or an infection. But now we do have local manufacturers, and that’s just the beginning. There are many more that are in the line because of this direction that this government has taken to produce locally,” Pate said.

He asserted that the groundwork has been laid for Nigeria to become a medically industrialized nation, reducing dependency and improving resilience in the healthcare sector.