Leading pharmaceutical experts and industry stakeholders have called for urgent executive reforms and strong policy implementation to end Nigeria’s overwhelming dependence on imported medicines, warning that the country risks worsening healthcare insecurity and industrial stagnation if decisive action is not taken.
Speaking at the 29th Annual National Conference of the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP), United States-based pharmaceutical scientist and quality strategist, Dr. Nonye Onyewuenyi, alongside former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, presented a comprehensive blueprint aimed at repositioning Nigeria as a major pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in Africa. The experts noted that despite having over 200 registered pharmaceutical companies, Nigeria still imports more than 70 percent of the medicines consumed locally.
Dr. Onyewuenyi lamented that poor policy execution and weak implementation frameworks remain the biggest barriers preventing Nigeria from attaining pharmaceutical self-sufficiency. According to her, the country possesses the natural resources, technical expertise, and industrial potential needed to produce medicines locally but lacks deliberate government-backed execution strategies.
“We have the raw materials and the ambition, but what we lack is a deliberate policy,” she stated. “It is unacceptable for a nation of over 200 million people with more than 200 registered pharmaceutical firms to still import over 70 percent of its drugs.”
She urged the Federal Government to aggressively implement the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) and other healthcare reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda, insisting that healthcare sovereignty cannot be achieved through policy rhetoric alone.
“Nigeria cannot continue to rely on foreign nations for medicines, vaccines, and essential medical products if it truly seeks sovereignty in healthcare delivery,” she said.
The pharmaceutical scientist further identified severe foreign exchange volatility, rising production costs, and increasing prices of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) as major threats weakening local manufacturing capacity.
On the issue of industrial management, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa charged pharmaceutical leaders to abandon outdated bureaucratic systems and embrace disciplined, data-driven performance management structures capable of sustaining modern pharmaceutical enterprises.
“Performance management is the heartbeat of corporate sustainability,” Ohuabunwa declared. “It is not an HR yearly form; it is a daily commitment to ensuring our patients win and our business grows.”
According to him, pharmaceutical firms must institutionalize weekly performance reviews, structured coaching systems, and measurable execution frameworks capable of bridging the gap between strategy and operational delivery.
“We must stop seeing performance management as a seasonal event,” he added. “It is the bridge between our strategic vision and the safe, quality medicines our patients deserve.”
Dr. Onyewuenyi also raised concerns over poor infrastructure, weak scientific innovation systems, and inadequate investment in research and development, warning that many Nigerian pharmaceutical firms remain unable to meet international manufacturing standards.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with CEOAFRICA, she stressed that Nigeria must invest heavily in research laboratories, innovation ecosystems, and internationally compliant production systems to compete globally.
“For a country blessed with abundant natural and human resources, it is a sheer waste to keep importing drugs that Nigeria could produce in abundance if only more effort was put into innovation and research,” she said.
