Nigeria needs to take pharmaceutical sector serious —ACU ex-VC

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A former vice chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU) in Oyo, Professor Kolawole Jaiyeoba, has said Nigeria needed to take its pharmaceutical industries more serious.

This, he said, will help the country to become competitive and a critical player in addressing the health needs of Nigerians, while also dominating the export market in West Africa and even in Africa.

Jaiyeoba, a professor of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy at the University of Ibadan, in his valedictory lecture, titled: ‘40years of Pharmacy at Ibadan: Impart on Industrial Pharmacy in Nigeria’, said pharmaceutical industry’s competitiveness cannot be divorced from the competitiveness of the overall manufacturing sector and the Nigerian economy.

According to him, Nigeria has consistently scored low in infrastructure, access to finance, security, corruption and governance, quality of education, skilled manpower and labour productivity.

The don declared that this low competitiveness has prevented Nigeria from benefiting from the ‘flying geese’ economic theory model that says factories move production from developed countries to developing markets like Nigeria despite having cheaper labour cost.

“It should normally have been expected that as China gets more prosperous with wages and labour cost increasing, global factories and production will then also move to Africa, especially Nigeria, given our huge population.

“This is, however, unlikely to happen as we do not have the basics in place, like infrastructure, governance, transparency and regulation and a skilled and vocational workforce to harness these economic dynamics.

“The current situation, however, calls for a deeper reflection on how we would build and develop a pharmaceutical industry that is increasingly less import dependent and, by doing so, can absorb the shocks of foreign exchange volatility, which is inevitable in the boom and bust of global economic cycles,” he said.

Professor Jaiyeoba said enhancing the status of drug production would require repositioning and empowering industrial pharmacy towards local drug manufacturing as this will improve drug availability by curbing total dependence on importation even during pandemics or lockdowns.

He suggested enhancing the status of drug manufacturing also by developing a comprehensive National Strategy and Plan of Action for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing; strengthening the National Medicine Regulatory System; and creating incentives to move local companies progressively from the importation of finished products to local manufacturing.

In a remark at the lecture, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale, described Professor Jaiyeoba as an icon of pharmacy, adding that the history of pharmacy programme at the university will not be complete without mentioning his contributions in various capacities.

Chairman of the governing council of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, Professor Ahmed Mora, speaking through Dr Yejide Oseni, South-West zonal director of PCN and chairman of Pharmacy Society of Nigeria (PSN), Oyo State branch, Mr Adegboyega Oguntoye and his mentees eulogised Professor Jaiyeoba’s contribution to pharmacy and mankind.

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