A former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Olumide Akintayo has described the signing of an Executive Order on the availability of pharmaceuticals in Nigeria as a most significant development that patriots in the health sector welcome wholeheartedly. In a statement made available to the New Telegraph, Akintayo, said, “We salute the sagacity of the Coordinating Minister of Health & Social Welfare (FMOH&SW), Prof Alli Pate and the permanent secretary (PS) of the FMOH&SW who have galvanised a commendable output in the health sector in recent times. Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently issued an executive order removing tariffs, exercise duties, and value-added tax (VAT) on imported pharmaceutical inputs.
Prof. Pate had announced the executive order via his official X account on Saturday, June 29. Akintayo said, “Prof Pate is beginning to distinguish himself as one who means what he says and therefore does what he says.
” The inherent parturition this Executive Order brings must trigger off a new pharmaceutical industry couched and laden with possibilities and fruitfulness. “We must move away from perambulations in the wilderness of retrogression”. Akintayo said the Federal Government through the FMOH&SW must progressively intervene in the matter of unfortunate tariffs and unfriendly policies churned out by some of the key regulators in the pharmaceutical sector if prices of drugs will crash in the interim because these tariffs are a m.
