While many experts and agencies believe that the rate of importation of pharmaceutical products has not declined in Nigeria, the Executive Secretary of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), Frank Muonemeh, has claimed the patronage of made-in-Nigeria medicines has risen from 30 per cent to 45 per cent.
Despite the Federal Government’s effort and policy to reduce the medicinal and pharmaceutical product importation rate from 70 per cent to 20 per cent, statistics showed the country is dependent on foreign pharm products. As shown on www.ceicdata.com, Nigeria’s importation of medicinal and pharmaceutical products was reported at $784,356.486 in Dec 2021.
This records a decrease from the previous number of $861,332.475 for December 2020.
Similarly, the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), in 2020, rated Nigeria as one of the world’s biggest importer of packaged medicaments with $1.38B.
During his presentation ahead of the sixth Nigeria Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Expo (NPME), Muonemeh said Nigerians consumed only 30 per cent of pharmaceutical products before the pandemic COVID-19, but that the number had increased to 45 per cent.
“We have 30 per cent manufacturers locally, while about 70 per cent are being imported into the Nigeria space. Before now, many Nigerians don’t look inward to buy made-in-Nigeria products but the COVID-19 pandemic has changed Nigeria’s trade dynamics. So, the number is 45 per cent, though not yet empirical. I know with time, we come up with data to back it up.
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“The pandemic was a reminder to us all on the need for countries to prioritise their local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector as there is a strong nexus between medicine security and national security, the vaccine nationalisation comes to mind. The pandemic has challenged us as a group to innovate, re-purpose and upscale our facilities to become competitive and more responsive in closing the gap in access to medicine as members are making a smart investment – buying machineries and looking at more innovative partnerships and technology transfer.”
He urged the government to come up with a policy that would enforce the marketing authorisation of any foreign product.
“With a population close to 200 million, Nigeria is the destination for most emerging companies and that is why a lot of people want to come into the country to market their products.
“Also, the pharma space is predicted by experts to be the next frontier for a smart investment. It has great, but largely untapped potential to contribute to national and regional development.
The AfCFTA regime has its own potential for revolutionising the industry. This is attainable only within the context in which government allows for speedy infrastructural development and contextualised policy.”
On this year’s expo, themed, “Advancing the frontiers of medicine security in Nigeria, expanding local pharma manufacturing in the era of AfCFTA,” the Chairman of NPME 2022, Patrick Ajah, said it was conceptualised to provide a stakeholders’ engagement.
Ajah, who is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of May&Baker Nigeria Plc, expressed that the topic was essential as it concerns the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement and the positioning of the industry for global competitiveness, and post-pandemic recovery.