The chairman of LEADERSHIP Group, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah on Wednesday called on Nigerian pharmacists to take advantage of opportunities in herbal drugs and the country’s large population to delve into its manufacturing.
Nda-Isaiah, who stated this while making his opening remark during the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS) Week, at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, said, “if Nigerian pharmacists do not take the initiative, foreigners will”.
The pharmacist turn media proprietor also noted that the country is “going through an extraordinary period of its history”, saying that, “we either follow the crowd to complain about the size of the problems (which is all right) or we take advantage of the opportunities that are presented.”
According to him, there are many who have never seen a thing like this before. And nobody should put a spin to what is happening. But as I have always believed and said, there are two sides of every coin. Every problem presents its own opportunities and we either follow the crowd to complain about the size of the problems (which is all right) or we take advantage of the opportunities that are presented.
He said, I tell people who work for me never to waste a disaster. A time like this – when our local currency has been at its weakest, when a dollar exchanges for N500 – would make a classical definition of a disaster. “But this is also the time we should start looking at the opportunities. The clear opportunity I see here is dollar-related. So if I earned a dollar, I would earn the equivalent of N500. Three years ago, that would be about N180.
“In the case of pharmacy, our comparative advantage in Africa is that we have so many herbal drugs that the world needs. South Africa is the only African country that has taken full advantage of this, and, even in South Africa, it is the whites that are making a killing in herbal drug manufacture.
“The Chinese, Indians and Indonesians also make billions of dollars exporting these drugs. So this is the time for Nigerian pharmacists to reset their priorities.
“Very soon, many Nigerians will not be able to afford imported medicines. Herbal or natural medicines and homeopathy will become increasingly important to Nigeria’s 180 million people.
“And if Nigerian pharmacists do not take the initiative, foreigners will come in here and take advantage of our natural resources and our huge population, just as they have done with Shoprite, MTN, DSTV etc.
“For those of you that still don’t know, Nigeria has changed forever. And only those who change accordingly will own the future. This is just to set you all thinking.”
By: Ebriku John Friday
Leadership News
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