Angela Onwuzoo The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said except the persistent depreciation of the Naira against major foreign currencies was addressed, President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order on pharmaceuticals alone cannot boost local drug production. Although the PMG-MAN acknowledged the benefits of the order, it, however, stated that the most crucial factor for the success of the domestic pharmaceutical industry is a stable exchange rate. The drug manufacturers maintained that unless the value of the Naira was fixed, achieving 70 per cent of local drug manufacturing would be impossible irrespective of the order.
The group noted that the Federal Government must begin to implement the order to avoid worsening the soaring hikes in drug prices. Recall that in June, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, said that Tinubu signed an executive order to increase local production of healthcare products like pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and devices such as needles and syringes, biological and medical textiles, among others. The order, which will be implemented by agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, would grant special waivers and exemptions for the products for two years.
Pate on his X account, formerly Twitter, noted, “In a transformative move to revitalize.