Drug prices remain high as tariff waivers drag

Drug prices have remained high as the federal government’s plan to introduce zero tariffs on pharmaceutical products drags.

In June 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed an executive order aimed at eliminating tariffs, excise duties, and value- added tax (VAT) on specialised machinery, equipment and raw materials for pharmaceuticals. The goal was to stimulate local production of essential healthcare products such as syringes, biologicals, and medical textiles, thereby reducing production costs and making medicines more affordable.

The government also announced in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 that it would implement a pooled procurement mechanism in order to reduce cost and ensure accessibility of essential medicines.

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Despite these bold and widely-applauded policies introduced by the government to bring relief to both the pharmaceutical industry and Nigerians, cost of medicines have remained high, leaving millions of citizens struggling to afford essential medicines.

Drug prices remain high

The prices of hypertensive drugs such as Lebatalol and Natrilix have risen by over 100 percent in just one year, from less than N2,500 to over N5,000 per sachet. Amlopidin price has hit N600-N700 from N300 in just one year.

“To buy a full dose of hypertensive drugs, I have to spend nearly N18, 000 on each tablet of Lebatalol, Natrilix, Temisartan and Amlodipine. I could buy them with N7,500 to N8,500 in early 2024,” said Taiwo Omipidan, a hypertensive patient.

”I wonder how the poor will manage to raise the money to buy these medicines.”

A survey found an increase in the price of Coartem, an antimalarial medication, which escalated by 135 percent in one year, rising from N1,200 in early 2023 to N6,000 by December 2024.

In 2022, a sachet containing 10 tablets of Amoxicillin was priced at approximately N550, but its price had increased to N2,000 by February 2025.

In 2022, a pack of Augmentin was available for around N3,500. As of February 2025, prices had jumped to N5,000 and N25,000, depending on the dosage and formulation.

Nzubechukwu Ebuzoeme, general manager (diagnostics) at ISN Products and Medicals, fears that the cost of pharmaceuticals would remain high if the policy continues to stall or if the government fails to address the bottlenecks contributing to high operational costs.

Adaobi Ogechi, a health expert, stated that she is not surprised that the policies are yet to be implemented. She argued that the government has historically not struggled with policymaking but with implementation, noting that many good policies continue to gather dust on the shelves of the government.

She urged the government not to allow the pharmaceutical industry to suffer the same fate.

A new report revealed that Nigerians pay up to 11.5 times more for the cheapest generic medicines such as antibiotics, forcing many to skip crucial treatments and endure preventable suffering.

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No implementation yet

Even though the federal government had developed an implementation framework for the executive order on pharmaceuticals in October 2024, implementation is yet to take off as expected.

Abdu Mukhtar, national coordinator of the Presidential Unlocking Healthcare Value, had, in October, had said that the government was designing the pooled procurement platform using a public-private partnership (PPP) framework, which would adopt successful international models of pooled procurement to fit Nigeria’s context.

He had emphasised that the current healthcare procurement landscape in Nigeria was fragmented across federal, state, and private sectors, thereby impacting the cost of medicaments.

But there is yet uncertainty regarding when these widely applauded policies will take effect to allow the pharmaceutical industry and Nigerians to finally heave a sigh of relief.

Lanre Shittu, chairman, HMA Medical Limited, told BusinessDay that the policy is yet to be implemented as manufacturers still face high import duties, shooting up operating costs.

“The implementation framework is not yet a working document, and the policy is yet to be implemented. I don’t understand what is going on. It beats my imagination. The president has done his best to sign the document, but implementation is the major issue. We have not made any progress.

“I was with Customs the other day and they were asking for gazetted copies. They said there were no signed copies yet, so nothing has changed,” he said.

Shittu also disclosed that no progress has been made on the pool procurement plan. “They said they would do it. We have had meetings to discuss this, but nothing has been done yet,” he said.

Francis Meshioye, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), also said that the executive order has not been implemented. He said there are several bottlenecks delaying its implementation, especially at the Customs.

“There is no clarity or clear guideline on how the executive order will be implemented. For now, none of our members have benefitted from the executive order yet,” he said.

According to him, the manufacturing sector, including the pharma industry, is on the verge of collapse owing to rising operational costs, resulting from high tariff, volatile naira, high electricity traffic, poor infrastructure, among others.

In addition to this, he said manufacturers continue to record high stock of unsold goods and urged the government to review the current economic dynamics, which are not favourable to manufacturers.

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No update from Ministry of Health

BusinessDay contacted the Ministry of Health for an update on the status of these policies, but Tashikalmah Hallah, special assistant to the Muhammad Pate, coordinating minister of health and social welfare, said he had no update. He said that the policies were within the mandate of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC).

Meanwhile, Abdu Mukhtar, the PVAC coordinator, had told BusinessDay in December 2024 that Minister Pate had transmitted the harmonised implementation framework to the Ministry of Finance for onward transmission to the Customs for implementation.