Muhammed Pate, Nigeria’s minister of health, says the country’s pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of a significant boom driven by a growing foreign investment, with four firms set to establish plants to manufacture drugs, vaccines and several medical devices.
In the past years, some pharmaceutical giants, including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Sanofi have exited Nigeria, citing unfavourable economic conditions. Their exit resulted in astronomical rise in the prices of several essential drugs.
But Pate, speaking exclusively to BusinessDay, revealed that while these multinationals have exited, others from France, Brazil, China, and the United States are showing keen interest in investing in Nigeria and setting up local manufacturing plants, with four companies already in the process of setting up production facilities.
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The minister said the government has developed 40 investment cases across different aspects of the healthcare value chain, including companies focused on producing medical textiles, IV fluids, and other essential medical products.
“Every one of those multinationals that walked away from Nigeria at our time of need, one day, they will look back and they will regret it”, the minister said, adding that the government would leverage these investments, implement favourable policies to position the industry as a significant player in the global pharmaceutical market, while also creating a favourable market for these investments to thrive.
He noted that the government policies and measures being implemented to reposition the economy would enhance the purchasing power of the Nigerian population, which is anticipated to grow significantly in the coming years.
“This difficult path we’re going through will pass. If you look at the projection, we’re 220 million people. In five years’ time, our years of plenty will come back. We will have a robust economy and we would have the people who will need drugs, who will need surgery and other things, and we’ll have a market”, Pate enthused.
The minister also criticised the exiting companies, stating that they were primarily driven by profit and not a genuine commitment to Nigeria.
“The reason why they came was because they could make a profit not because they liked us. So, when we ran into a difficulty, they scampered away because they were not producing anything. We are using the crisis as an opportunity. We will build companies that will be playing in the medical industrialisation space and they will endure and those folks that have gone will now have to go somewhere else. Let them go somewhere else”, pate said.
Speaking further on the ongoing investment in the sector, the minister mentioned that the four firms targeting local production of vaccines were recently connected with the African Vaccine Manufacturers Alliance to help them gain access to incentives and resources necessary for production.
These companies include the BVNL (May and Baker) which has a technical partnership with Serum Institute for fill and finish; Ash Biomedical here in Abuja which targets both vaccines and test kits.
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Innovative Biotech in Nasarawa State; and AfriVax, a Lagos-based firm which aims to establish their plant starting from fill and finish.
Pate mentioned several upcoming investments, including a Brazilian company planning to invest $240 million in the production of generic pharmaceuticals, with construction of their plant set to begin in January 2025.
“At the same time, various entities are aiming to produce medical textiles; we have one of the largest manufacturers of bed nets interested to come and set up a plant in Lagos. Others are trying to manufacture IV fluids and other medical products all as part of stimulating the industry to produce things”, Pate added.
The minister assured that the government was actively supporting these investments through various policy measures. He highlighted the recent executive order signed by President Bola Tinubu to reduce tariffs on raw materials and machinery required for pharmaceutical manufacturing. This order reduces tariffs on raw materials and machinery for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, test kits, and other essential medical products.
He said a framework for the implementation of that executive order has just been developed which will ensure that the policy yield the desired impact.
The minister acknowledged that developing local manufacturing capacity for pharmaceuticals and medical devices would take time, as Nigeria had long been heavily dependent on imports, weakening its capacity to produce. He also stressed the importance of building strong regulatory and scientific capabilities to ensure the safety and efficacy of locally produced medicines and vaccines.
