Business
1m pharma jobs, N500b investments at risk
In from Success Allantee…
Nigeria may precipitate the immediate collapse of its pharmaceutical manufacturing industry with attendant lose of more than one million jobs and N500 billion investments, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG MAN) has warned.
The PMG MAN is the umbrella body of all pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria and it consists of more than 150 companies, including seven that are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The group’s chairman, Mr. Okey Akpa, raised the alarm Thursday that the Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturing industry may gradually grind to a halt within the next two months based on the two inimical policies of Common External Tariff (CET) and New Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG).
According to the pharmaceutical manufacturers, Nigerian government needs to reconsider the current provisions of the pharmaceutical clause in the CET and the newly introduced NDDG.
The CET provides for zero tariffs on finished imported medicine but imposes between five and 20 per cent tariff on essential raw and packaging materials required by the local manufacturing industry.
The NDDG seeks to introduce a new layer and concentrate the distribution of drugs in recognised Mega Drug Distribution Centres, which will have exclusive authority to buy from manufacturers and sell to wholesalers.
Akpa, who is also the managing director of SKG Pharma, said the adoption of CET as currently provided would lead to total collapse of the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry.
He noted that with more than 150 fully certified and regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria, including four that have complied with World Health Organisation (WHO) Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP), and over N500 billion investments and one million jobs, the Nigerian government should protect the local manufacturing sector.
“It is regrettable that the damaging consequences of the policy on the local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector were not considered despite our desperate attempts to draw attention to this. This policy undoubtedly spells doom for the local industry as imported medicines will become far cheaper than locally produced ones,” Akpa said.
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He pointed out that the CET if implemented the way it is, will reverse the gains made towards Nigeria’s self sufficiency in essential medicine and open all doors for total importation of finished medicines.
The pharmaceutical manufacturers called on the government to impose import adjustment tax of 20 per cent on imported finished pharmaceutical products of HS Codes 3003 and 3004 as applied to other sectors where Nigeria has capacity as allowed by the CET.
He added that the Nigerian government should also include inputs into pharmaceutical manufacturing such as raw materials, excipients and packaging materials under the National List within the CET and allow such inputs to be imported at zero per cent by bonafide manufacturers.
He warned that the introduction of the NDDG would lead to creation of cartels and syndicates who will create monopolies and deny Nigerians access to affordable and quality drugs.
He highlighted that the NDDG would lead to significant reduction in access to essential medicines, hike in price of essential medicines, unemployment, stagnation for companies, loss of potential investments and inefficiencies in the pharmaceutical value chain.
“MDDCs, the new layer added by the NDDG will not have the capacity to distribute every NAFDAC registered product, which currently stands at over 100,000 stock keeping units from over 200 manufacturers and 300 importers,” Akpa said.
He called for sanitisation of the current wholesale system in an all inclusive approach that reasonably accommodates all stakeholders.
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