Members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have stated that the public health sector in Nigeria is headed for a crisis if a solution is not found to reduce the country’s over-reliance on imported pharmaceuticals, News About Nigeria reports.
This concern arose in response to a report by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), which revealed that Nigeria had spent at least N3.06tn on the importation of pharmaceutical products in the last six years.
RMRDC, a Federal Government agency responsible for industrial raw materials growth, promotion, and utilization, disclosed that Nigeria spent at least N126.1bn on pharmaceutical imports in 2016. In 2017, the figure slightly reduced to N118.9bn, while 2018 saw an increase to N185.5bn.
However, the report indicated that the figure is expected to rapidly increase over the next four years. Importation statistics for 2019 reached N520bn, and in 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis, Nigeria spent N1tn on importing pharmaceuticals. In 2021 and 2022, N544.4bn and N445.7bn were spent, respectively, to import pharmaceutical products into Nigeria.
Heparin and its salts, vaccines, toxins, wadding, and gauze medicines of mixed and unmixed products for retail sale constituted the bulk of pharmaceutical products imported during this period.
The report also highlighted that, in contrast to importing large quantities of pharmaceutical products, Nigeria was only able to export products worth N3bn during the review period, resulting in a trade deficit of N3.03tn.
The Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State branch of PSN, Abasiama Uwatt, expressed her concerns about the state of the nation’s public health sector. She noted that despite the country’s capacity to produce Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Nigeria still heavily depends on importation for supply.
