The Federal Government has said that the country’s dependence on importation of critical health commodities such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices and vaccines is not only inimical to national growth but also antithetical to the overall architecture of the national drug security.

It noted that efforts to achieve drug security in Nigeria present opportunities for job creation, international trade, economic growth and national security.

Director, Food and Drug Services, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Olubunmi Aribiena, who stated this at the 2025 National and Regional Harmonization Conference, “Contextualising the Presidential Initiative to Achieve Local Production of Medicines and Vaccines in Nigeria” in Abuja, stated that this is an era of vaccines nationalism, where multinational pharma companies had to prioritise the countries where they are domiciled, ensuring significant coverage of their population before considering other countries.

Aribiena highlighted the need to find innovative ways to unlock the health sector value chain, adding that Nigeria needs to position itself to benefit from the African Free Trade Continental Area, which is adjudged to be among the largest in the world.

She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak was a period of despair and uncertainty for Sub-Saharan Africa and low-middle-income countries, especially when some industrialised countries started placing restrictions on the exportation of key Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

Aribiena observed that the COVID-19 pandemic reinvigorated national interest and commitment to local manufacture of vaccines, APIs and Finished Pharmaceutical Products (FPP), adding that the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between the Federal Government and the May & Baker Nigeria Plc (MBN) that birthed the Biovaccines Nigeria Limited (BVNL) and also attracted significant interest from the international community.

She stated that the creation of the Presidential Initiative on unlocking the healthcare value chain, and the signing of the Pharma Sector Presidential Executive Order, underscored the prioritisation of the pharmaceutical sector as an integral part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration.

Aribiena emphasised the need to identify gaps across the different sub-sectors in the entire pharmaceutical ecosystem; create a forum for engagement across public, private and community sectors to contextualise the presidential initiative, as well as identify actionable steps for enhancing local production of medicines and vaccines.

Also, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Supply Chain Management Officer, Nigeria, Omotayo Hamza, noted that access to health commodities is a human rights issue, adding that each country must have strategies, policies and guidelines that will ensure that there is always availability of medicines, vaccines and health technologies.

He stated that the landscape for pharmaceutical products is robust in Nigeria, adding that the country has over 150 registered manufacturers, while some countries do not have one.

Hamza said, “Nigeria has no lack of policies, strategies and guidelines. Our major challenge is the implementation. And that is why we need to harmonisation between Ministries Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Health and Science and Tech to set an agenda that is implementable.”

On her part, Chinelo Okonkwo, a pharmacist, advocated local production of vaccines to boost the confidence of Nigerians and tackle vaccine hesitancy.