LAGOS, NIGERIA — Under a new public health industrial strategy, nigeria targets local medicine production of 70 percent for essential healthcare items by 2030, supported by $2 billion in financing commitments at single-digit interest rates.
Dr. Iziaq Salako, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, outlined the national roadmap at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers Expo in Lagos, organized by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN).
Salako disclosed that 50 Nigerian health companies are in advanced funding discussions, while 87 local manufacturers are currently benefiting from zero tariffs on pharmaceutical machinery, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and excipients under a presidential executive order.
Key Initiatives Supporting Local Medicine Production
The federal strategy combines financial backing, procurement aggregation, and regulatory relief to accelerate domestic industrial capacity:
Strategic Pillar
Policy Implementation & Structural Objective
Financing & Credit Access
$2 billion in single-digit interest financing pledged for local manufacturers
Tariff Exemptions
Zero import tariffs across 1,000 HS codes for machinery, APIs, and excipients
Guaranteed Demand
Creation of Medipool (National GPO) to aggregate public health procurement
Import Reduction
Imported finished pharmaceuticals fell from 4.03B units to 1.13B units by 2025
Structural Challenges: Power Tariffs and Import Dependence
As nigeria targets local medicine self-sufficiency, industry leaders emphasize that moving from a 50:50 import-to-local production ratio up to 70 percent requires overcoming severe infrastructure bottlenecks.
Executive Secretary of PMG-MAN Pharm. Frank Muonemeh noted that domestic pharmaceutical firms spend over 40 percent of revenue on electricity and alternative power generation, compared to under 10 percent in competing markets like India and China. Ahead of the expo, manufacturers called on the federal government to extend the presidential executive order from two to five years and implement dedicated industrial energy tariffs.
Furthermore, most finished tablets packaged domestically still depend on imported active pharmaceutical ingredients. Transitioning from local packaging to full API synthesis remains the most capital-intensive hurdle required to insulate Nigeria’s drug supply from global foreign exchange fluctuations.
Why It Matters: Local manufacturing protects domestic drug supplies from global disruptions, but patient prices will only fall if industrial energy costs and API import dependencies are resolved.
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