Pharmacists hail government order on locally manufactured goods

Pharmacists under the aegis of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have said that the Federal Government’s Executive Order, which authorized all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) to source at least a minimum of not less than 40 per cent of procurement of goods from local manufacturers will ensure drug security in the country.

The Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, on May 18, 2017, signed the Executive Order on support for Local Content in public procurement. The PSN, yesterday, in a statement, noted that the Federal Government deserves commendation for deeming it fit to include locally manufactured medicines in the Executive Order as specified in its Section 4F of the order.

President PSN, Ahmed Yakasai, and National Secretary, Gbolagade Iyiola, who signed the statement said that the move will surely give a boost to pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria by guaranteeing adequate medicines supply for local needs as well as export that will earn foreign currency for the economy.

The PSN urged the players in the pharmaceutical companies to exploit this window of opportunity with all seriousness and that doing this will place the pharmaceutical industry on a pedestal where it will be able to contribute its own quota to the growth of the economy by providing employment opportunities to the teeming Nigerian youths.

The society appealed to the government to operate this policy thrust with sincerity of purpose by ensuring that companies are paid promptly by MDAs after they make supplies to them.

The pharmacists claimed that in recent past government parastatals had been frustrating transactions between them and private players with huge burden of debts for supplies coupled with bureaucracy and corruption endemic in the system when payments are to be made.