70% of drugs consumed in Nigeria imported –– FG

The Federal Government has said that 70 per cent of medicines consumed in the country are imported, hence it’s partnering with the government of Cuba to reduce the importation by 20 per cent in a few years.

The Director-General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, made the disclosure, at a press briefing in Abuja, while highlighting the importance of the recently passed NABDA Act 2022 to national building.

“The agency, recently formalised partnership with the Government of Cuba. The main objective of the partnership is to promote joint research in tissue culture, and drug and vaccine manufacturing. At the moment, Nigeria imports 70 per cent of medicines used in the nation. This collaboration holds the possibility of reducing it to about 20 per cent in the next few years. One of the implications of this is that the era of substandard drugs is coming to an end as local production will lead to quality enhancement.

“Again, when pharmaceutical companies start local manufacturing of drugs, the strength of the naira will increase,” Mustapha said.

“The agency through its research activities is leapfrogging Nigeria’s dairy industry and working on how to improve livestock genetics.

“The research efforts of NABDA are contributing enormously to abate exchange rate volatilities in Nigeria. A good example in this wise is cotton. lint, a raw material for textile manufacturing. It was key on Nigeria’s import list,” he stated.