Why govt should increase patronage for local drug firms

• Fidson wants 70% of medicines used in Nigeria to be procured from indigenous companies
• Opens ultra modern manufacturing plant in Ogun to improve Nigeria’s medical outcomes
• Lagos applauds company’s commitment to children’s health, education

Fidson HealthCare PLC has called on the federal and state governments to increase support for local pharmaceutical industries especially in the areas of patronage for their products, provision of essential infrastructure like regular electricity and ensuring easy access to Forex for importation of raw of materials into the country for production.

Operation Director of Fidson Healthcare, Biola Adebayo, during a media tour of the company’s newly completed ultra modern multi billion naira facility constructed at Ota Ogun state said: “The facility is one of its kinds, state of the art which is meant to handle the deteriorating health challenges in Nigeria.” He added: “The newly completed structure was harnessed in other to see to the medical issues in Nigeria even West Africa.”

The Director, on the tour lauded the support of the media to the firm and urged them to do more in supporting the facility. He also assured that when operation is fully kicked off, that the facility could supply Nigerians of all the medicines she need.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has commended Astymin for its relentless commitment to the academic development of Nigerian Children through the brand’s annual flagship programme, Astymin Brilliance Reward.

Speaking at the 16th edition of the Astymin children academic reward program- Astymin Brilliance Reward- recently held on at the Grange School, Lagos, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule said Astymin’s commitment and contributions to the development of education and academic performance of the Nigerian child are commendable and worthy of emulation by other brands.

Meanwhile, Adebayo who registered his displeasures with the government lamented that the government is not giving them the adequate working conditions: citied that the government still owe them the sum of N100 million from a contract they carried out since 2012. He enjoined the Buhari led government to salvage the ugly situation.

On the challenges faced in the completion of the N9 billion structures, Adebayo cried out on the issue of forex lamenting that the scarcity of dollars is an impediment that destabilises the importation of raw materials to the country for production.

Adebayo led the media to virtually empty raw materials’ storeroom, which was because of the scarcity of dollars in the parallel market. He also stressed on the issue of clearing the goods and faulted a situation where raw materials would be cleared at the rate on five to 20 per cent and the already finished goods at the rate of zero percent.

Adebayo said the situation would only result to consumers’ resistance and as a result low patronage for locally made products. He also reviewed the procurement policy stating, “that the 70 percent of drugs used in Nigeria should be procured from the manufacturers but as we now all can see, our people in government do not adhere to that policy, rather they import through third party agents and there is nothing we cannot do here.”

The director also lamented on the lack of basic social amenities, explaining the huge amount of money being spent on power generation and treatment of water. He explained: “The Compressed Natural Gas system for power generation cost us N125 million and to power the system we need about four trucks of gas a day. We also have a diesel powered that cost about N175 million among others. If the government is working up to its expectations at least the money would have been used for working capital.”

On the relationship with the host community, Adebayo said: “We have a very good relationship with the community without their support we wouldn’t have been here today. First of all when we came in we asked them to submit their CV. Currently 19 people are working with us now from this particular community and many more from Ota. We trained them to some extent and some we trained as machine operators. We also constructed drainage system for them and I also believed with time we will do more for the community.”

Adebayo advised the government to appreciate and patronize made in Nigeria products assuring the citizens of good quality products. He boasted about the multibillion mega structure saying, “our facility here is world class facility; we spent a lot of money to put this in place. So when government is talking about quality we have it here and manpower, we have it here too. In terms of what is used to produce the best drugs we have it here too. So why can’t they patronize us?”

Adebayo urged the government to also treat medicine as a national security issue, assuring that the medicine we take could be life threatening if adequate care and measure is not taken. He also confirmed that 95 to 97 percent of fake drugs in Nigeria are being imported. It shows that we Nigerians manufacture quality things because we are the ones consuming it. He also encouraged the government to be consistent in the policy being made to enable a conducive atmosphere in the production environment. He also encouraged the government to protect the manufacturers in the sense that they should apply import adjustment tax, which in this situation will make clearing of the raw material cheaper and more tax will be paid.

He also ascertained that the establishment of the firm in Nigeria is as the result of their patriotic nature. Adebayo said that the facility will not only crate jobs, it will also bring about growth and development to the country and attraction of foreign investors.

Meanwhile, Adebule, who was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary, Education District 2, Mrs. Magareth Titilayo Solarin, said the brand had done well in encouraging children to strive for excellence in their academics by recognizing and rewarding the best-performing pupils in states like Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Enugu and Anambra.

She further reiterated that children’s educational development was not negotiable and encouraged all stakeholders, including teachers, parents and other corporate bodies to take a cue from Astymin and play their parts in the academic development of the Nigerian children, as they are the future of the nation.

Also speaking at the colourful event, the Director of Co-Curricular department of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mrs. Ismail Magareth Morenike, expressed her gratitude to Astymin for the reward programme. “On behalf of the Chairman of the board, Dr. Ganiyu Oluremi Shopeyin, we are very grateful to Astymin for this brilliance reward. This is an encouragement to both the pupils, teachers as well as their parents who put in so much effort to ensure their kids work hard and perform excellently in their academics,” she said.

The Astymin Brilliance Reward, which berthed in 2010, is the brand’s biggest and most prestigious event. The programme is aimed at developing mental and academic performance, while rewarding hard work and academic excellence amongst primary school pupils, through special acknowledgment and provision of educational materials.

The 2016 edition witnessed the convergence of the very best graduating pupils from about 200 private and public schools across the south-west and South-eastern regions, as well as parents, teachers and stakeholders in the Nigerian educational system. The Astymin brand recognised and rewarded the kids with certificates of excellence and valuable prizes, which were presented by Mrs. Magareth Titilayo Solarin, Mrs. Ismail Morenike and other dignitaries at the event.

Astymin brand also supports other school programs in primary schools. Every month, there is an ‘Astymin Genius of the Month’ essay competition, in which students in primary schools in Lagos state write an essay on a topic. Astymin then rewards the child with the best-written essay. There are also other online activities going on the Astymin Official website, www.myastymin.com and other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.