Pharmacy technicians seek removal of import duties on products

The President of the National Association of Pharmaceutical Technologists and Pharmacy Technicians of Nigeria, (NAPTTON), Balogun Adetona, has canvassed a total lift on duties collected on imported pharmaceutical products.

Adetona in Ilorin, yesterday said Nigeria could not yet embark on drugs manufacturing/production using 100 per cent of local contents. He lamented the present high cost of drugs, making them inaccessible to indigent patients.

He said, “the Federal Government should reduce the import duties on drugs and their contents. At present, to manufacture soft drugs, like paracetamol will require us depending on some contents from abroad as we are yet to start producing such.

“The rising cost of drugs is never our own making. Over 90 per cent of the products used in drugs manufacturing in Nigeria are imported. Unless drugs are made available at cheaper prices, poor patients will continue to groan and the resultant effects will be treatment failure.”

Adetona canvassed a return to the era when syrups were mixed in a large quantity in Nigeria rather than relying on imported syrups, adding, “what they do nowadays is to import, remove the labels and re- label.”

He faulted the alleged assertions by the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN), that pharmaceutical technology remained a postgraduate course.