By Muhammad Amaan
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has solicited international partners’ support for establishing vaccine manufacturing facilities in Nigeria.
The NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the call in a statement on Sunday.
Prof. Adeyeye was speaking at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers Expo in Lagos.
The expo was organised by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, PMG-MAN, in collaboration with PGE Expo PVT Limited.
She acknowledged international partners’ continued support to NAFDAC trajectory at the event jointly organised by PMG-MAN and PGE Expo PVT Ltd.
Prof. Adeyeye said their contributions would be immensely appreciated toward fill-and-finish modular vaccine manufacturing, adding that NAFDAC had met eight of nine functions required for medicines and vaccines benchmarking requirements overall.
“We want to call on our international partners that have been of tremendous help. Without them we would not have been here, while urging support for vaccine manufacturing in Nigeria.”
The director-general said Nigeria had all it took to attain Vaccine Lot Releases Maturity Level Four, aside from local vaccine manufacturing, adding that estimated costs would not be excessive if eventually successfully.
“To get Lot Release-Maturity Level Four, we have figured it out in a way we have estimated. It’s not going to cost too much.
“NAFDAC used to manufacture vaccines and it’s high time we go back to that era and regain that capacity nationwide,” she added.
Prof. Adeyeye commended President Bola Tinubu for the 2024 Executive Order, which she noted brought life to NAFDAC’s persistent clamour for incentives for local pharmaceutical manufacturers nationwide over time.
She noted that the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare and Minister of State for Health bought into the rationale for incentives, partly leading to unlocking the value chain initiative.
According to her, the journey started with the Good Manufacturing Practice Roadmap, during which NAFDAC inspectors conducted compliance audits of over 165 companies across the country for eight months continuously nationwide.
She said the initiative, funded by USAID and executed by the United States Pharmacopeia, helped ensure manufacturers produced quality products, improving positive patient health outcomes during treatment without failure ultimately.
Adeyeye stated further that data showed imports under ‘Five plus Five’ and the Ceiling Initiative decreased by 70 per cent from 2021 to 2025, as manufacturers took up the challenge fully themselves.
She said NAFDAC’s improving staff competence, laboratory recognition and successful re-benchmarking also strengthened the agency, adding that NAFDAC became the first agency in Sub Saharan Africa to be re-benchmarked successfully again.
The Chairman of PMG-MAN, Mr Oluwatosin Jolayemi, said the expo brought manufacturers, regulators, investors and development partners together, calling for the extension of the executive order beyond March 2027, deadline period industry.
Mr Jolayemi noted that medicine security and pharmaceutical sovereignty required policy consistency, investment, capability development and a predictable operating environment, adding that 132 companies from several countries participated in the expo overall.
