Following the latest guidelines from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that commercial banks with international authorisation should increase their capital base to N500 billion and national banks to N200 billion, the Chairman of St. Racheal’s Pharmaceutical Company, Mr Akinjide Adeosun, has expressed optimism that bigger, stronger banks will be positioned to lend to pharmaceutical businesses, which will help to assure long-term, desirous drug security in Nigeria.
According to him, it is a great initiative towards the US$1 trillion economy being targeted by the country through the apex bank.
Adeosun and others shared their thoughts and perspectives over the weekend at a media dialogue to commemorate the sixth anniversary of St. Racheal’s Pharmaceutical Company in Lagos.
In his welcome address, the convener of the forum, Adeosun, highlighted many challenges facing the sector and manufacturing in general.
He emphasised that bad policies and a lack of political will on the part of political leaders are the major challenges suppressing genuine growth in the sector.
He said it was not that all the identified challenges were new, as they had been there for ages, but finding a workable solution to them has been the real problem.
“And that is the essence of our discussion today—to provide a solution that would help to move the pharmaceutical industry as well as the economy generally to appreciable heights.”
He said truly accessing quality healthcare in Nigeria and elsewhere globally is very expensive as the cost of production and supply value chains of pharmaceutical products are high based on the already identified problems. The Nigerian case is more pathetic as Nigeria’s business environment is more hostile.
He noted that for St. Racheal’s Pharma to remain in business and grow steadily in the last six years when many bigger companies had closed shops, it was because of its resilience and a strong commitment to make a great impact and leave a good legacy beyond this generation.
He specifically emphasised the importance of the Health Insurance Scheme and the political will on the part of the political class to bail the system out of the conundrum, saying these two concerns are critical to guaranteeing drug security in the country.
He said health insurance in particular must be strengthened and expanded to cover most Nigerians rather than a few in government employment and the few operators in the private sector.
According to him, aside from the federal and few state governments that have adopted health insurance schemes, which are even as low as five per cent for their workforce, who are also very few when compared with the country’s over 200 million population, a larger percentage of Nigerians are in the private sector, and the majority of them don’t know what health insurance is about, let alone key into the scheme.
But unlike in developed economies such as the UK, USA, and even Singapore, India, and Bangladesh, he pointed out that the health insurance scheme is working and effective, and the ease of doing business is also more favourable.
“So, we need more actions in Nigeria, and more importantly, on the part of the government at all levels, as they have more resources at their disposal and they also make policies to run the system.
“It is only healthy people that can translate to a healthy and prosperous country, and that is why St. Racheal’s Pharma will continue to create jobs for many Nigerians and retain its earnings in the economy for further expansion and human services.”
The Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Chinyere Almona, and the National Chairman, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Prince Adewale Oladigbolu, as well as the Chairman and CEO of St. Racheal’s Pharmaceutical Company, among others, proffered workable solutions that could make Nigeria’s manufacturing sector do well and take its rightful place in the nation’s economy.
They said the importance of the manufacturing sector to the larger economy, especially in the areas of gross domestic products, food security, and employment generation, was huge, but the various challenges confronting the sector have made it very difficult for many manufacturers to survive.
They declared that the business ecosystem for Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, including the pharmaceutical industry, is indeed unfriendly, and until it is tackled and brought to the barest minimum, it will be difficult for Nigeria to be socio-economically prosperous.
The theme of the event, which included the immediate past Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Mrs. Olubamiwo Adeosun, and the founder of HealthPlus Pharmacy, Mrs. Bukky George, among notable Nigerians in attendance, was “Manufacturing Renaissance: The Panacea for Drug Security in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the theme, Mrs Almona, who was the keynote speaker, said it is important that governments at both the federal and state levels provide an enabling environment for manufacturers, especially pharmaceuticals and allied operators, to thrive.
She said there were many factors, some of which are structural, fiscal, and systemic, and now high inflation is working against the reasonable growth of the sector.
She listed unfriendly government policies, poor power supply, high cost of transportation, insecurity, high cost of borrowing, high taxes, high cost of foreign exchange, high cost of raw materials, import duties, lack of collaboration, and so forth as some of the challenges.
While commending St. Racheal’s Pharma Company for remaining steadfast despite the harsh business ecosystem, Mrs Almona said the government would need to look into these directions and tackle the problems headlong to enable Nigeria and its people to live a quality life.
ALSO READ THESE TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNEÂ
and then