Posted on: Fri 14-03-2025

Pharmaceutical industry leaders, under the aegis of Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP), have raised concerns over rising costs, economic instability and growing security challenges.

 

The concerns were raised, yesterday, at the 2025 Economic Outlook and CEOs Forum, themed, “Surviving the Shocks and Taming the Tides by Pharmaceutical Industry Key Players.”

 

Speaking at the event, the former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr Alexander Ayoola Okoh, warned that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry was in a critical situation, struggling to survive in the face of economic turmoil.

 

“We are operating in what is usually referred to as a period of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. To thrive in an environment with such strong headwinds, we must learn to swim against the tide,” he said.

 

He noted that Nigeria’s GDP growth rate was projected at 2.9 per cent, trailing behind the Sub-Saharan African average of 3.8 per cent, while inflation remained high at 23 per cent, driven by currency depreciation, fuel subsidy removal and food supply disruptions. The Chairman of NAIP, Ken Onuegbu, described the rising cost of clearing goods at the ports as outrageous.

 

“At the ports, it looks as if everyone is waiting to have their pound of flesh. A container that used to clear for about N10 million now requires almost N30 million. The regulatory authorities have not helped matters either,” he lamented.

 

He added that many local pharmaceutical companies had folded up in the last two years, as they could no longer survive the financial pressures affecting their businesses.

 

“Things have fallen apart, and the centre can no longer hold,” he warned. The founder and Managing Director of Fidson Healthcare Plc, Dr Fidelis Ayebae, expressed concerns over Nigeria’s economic direction, stating that the country was gradually eroding its future.

 

“Nigeria, unfortunately, has developed tendencies that tend to destroy, not just the present, but also the future. We do not remember our past, neither do we build enough examples for those coming after us to follow,” he said. Comparing Nigeria to neighbouring countries, he described his recent visit to another West African nation as eye-opening.

 

“I just returned last night from a neighbouring country. I was amazed. It was quiet, clean, and organised. Then, just as I was driving back into my own country, chaos was everywhere”.

 

Between the border and Agbara, I counted about fifty checkpoints,” he said. Stakeholders at the forum noted that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector had suffered major setbacks following the exit of multinational companies, like GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, and Pfizer.

 

By Musa Adekunle

Guardian News

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