Nigeria, Egypt Seeks Investment to Boost Local Production of Pharmaceuticals

Oluchi Chibuzor 

As Nigerians grapple with the increasing cost of essential medicines necessitated by the inflation and FX fluctuations, Nigerian and Egyptian pharmaceutical Investors are seeking ways to boost local production of essential medication in the country.

The collaboration seeks ways to boost Nigeria’s current level of 30 per cent production of essential medication, infrastructural development of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturing plants and technical knowledge sharing.

Speaking at a roundtable meeting with their Egyptian counterparts in Lagos, the National Chairman, Association of Industrial Pharmacists Of Nigeria (AIPN), Kenneth Onuegbu, said they are open to dialogue, discussion and collaboration.

He said the primary thing now for the country was to focus on local production of essential crucial medications in view of the persistent increase in price of drugs in the country.

According to him, “We saw a country that is really passionate with developing what belongs to them, so we believe at the end of this engagement with our Egyptian counterpart, we can learn a lot from them in terms of boosting capacity. So we are going to tap from them on how they have developed their local essential drugs.”

Commenting, Group Exhibition Director, Informa Markets Egypt for Pharmaconex West Africa, Mostapha Khalil, said they have been working really hard in the past to understand the challenges in the Nigerian market.

Announcing the Pharmaconex West Africa and Medic West Africa conference coming up between April 22 to 24, 2024, Khalil said he acknowledged that Nigeria should be looking inward rather than importing drugs.

In his remarks, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Prof. Cyril Usifoh, said the government needs to engage the pharmaceutical industries more. He attributed the high cost of drugs in the country to high diesel prices, exchange rate to buy APIs and credit facilities, which are not there to pharmaceutical companies in the counties.