By Asma’u Ahmad
The Nigeria’s Federal Government said that it would encourage local manufacturing of drugs by indigenous pharmaceutical industries in the country.
Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo made the remark in Minna, Niger state while opening the 89th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN).
He said: “We are committed to employing quality time and resources to refining the educational system and ensuring that the system produces the pharmacist that will attend to Nigeria’s 170 million people is structurally robust.
“These pharmacists will meet our expectation of having drugs that will ensure qualitative health care delivery in all public and private health institutions in our country.
“We look forward to working with you on how to fine-tune the current system and improve on the existing framework for the overall health care development.
“We will encourage a nucleus in local capacity and domestic production of pharmaceutical products to meet our local needs. On our part government remains relentless in removing the road blocks affecting business innovation and growth in Nigeria.”
Professor Osinbajo, who was represented by Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said some local pharmaceutical companies had complained of tariffs on the classification of certain products.
Such tariffs make it easy for importation of pharmaceutical products than to produce them locally.
“We are addressing this concern with the Ministries of Trade, Industry and Investment and the Nigeria Customs Service.
“We are looking at how we can use tariff structures to encourage local production of pharmaceutical products and discourage importation of those medicines that we can produce locally,” he said.
He said that the health sector was of great importance to the federal government as such “we anticipate the expansion of service industries such as the pharmaceuticals especially the indigenous pharmaceutical companies.”
Earlier, National President of PSN, Pharmacist Ahmed Yakasai announced a donation of N50 million to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the country.
Pharmacist Yakasai said that the society would partner the federal government in improving the lives of IDPs in the country.
