Nigeria’s health indicators are abysmally poor – Prof Tayo

A leading pharmacist and lecturer, Professor Fola Tayo of Caleb University, has lamented the deteriorating state of healthcare in the country, accusing successive governments of making pronouncements without enough projection and paying mere lip service to the health sector.

Making this statement at a colloquium held in honour of Chief Theophilus Omotosho’s 80th birthday during the week, he regretted that imported drugs are minimally taxed, while local drug manufacturers suffer multiple taxation from all levels of government, forcing many to close shop. He explained that Nigerians consume a lot of drugs because communicable diseases abound as a result of extreme poverty.

He added that no nation could survive without the manufacturing sector, which could spring Nigeria into greatness, but the government is killing it, forcing capacity utilisation to less than 50 percent. He lamented that the nation has become extremely lazy, preferring to import everything, some in a bid to avoid multiple taxations, thereby destroying the economy.

He listed some of the problems pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria and other manufacturers generally to include poor infrastructure, zero water supply, poor transportation, multiple taxations and inability to compete with imported goods because of high overhead. He urged government to invest in manufacturing companies, as a matter of urgency, give them moratoriums, tax concessions, easier loans with very little interest, as well as increase taxation on imported products. He called on the government to sincerely ban importation of products the nation can produce, as this is the major key to turning the economy around.