Nigeria's pharmaceutical companies want policy consistency and clarity as well as a new strategy for drug importation to enable them stay afloat, add more workers to their direct and indirect staff.
Speaking at Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN)/ Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN).Forum in Abuja, Okey Akpa, President of PMG-MAN, said policy flip-flops had many times threatened to shut down over 120 pharma companies in the industry.
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Akpa said drug makers in the country were not carried along when some major policies affecting them were made. "The Common External Tariff (CET) threatened to wipe us out until the 2016 Fiscal Policy, which changed the dynamics. The CET provides for five to 20 percent tariff for importation of pharmaceutical raw materials and excipiergs but allow finished medicines to enter into any country in the sub-region at no duty. We are grateful that the Federal Government intervened with the 2016 Fiscal Policy which imposed tariffs on four categories of imported drugs," he said.
"We need to have an import strategy. What we are saying is, hand over importation to those who are already manufacturing medicines. That means they have plans to start producing the chugs. When you hand importation to those who are not manufacturing and have no plan to do so, you are discouraging local manufacturing," he said.
By: Naomi Uzor
Vaguard News
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