Orhii seeks development fund for pharmaceutical sector

BY PETER DURU

Director -General of the NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhi has urged Federal government to save the pharmaceutical industry through a N150 billion fund setup called the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Development Fund to support growth and stability of the sector. The fund, to be established under direct supervision of the Bank Of Industries, would boost local production of all essential drugs, he argued.

Speaking during a stakeholders interactive forum in Makurdi, Orhii said currently, over 70 percent of essential drugs in Nigeria were imported from CTo rapidly develop the Nigerian drugs manufacturing industry, he stated that: “it is also in the interest of our national security that our essential drugs are produced in our country. I strongly believe that with establishment of the Pharmaceutical Development Fund, Nigerian companies would be strengthened enough to start producing in large quantities that would take care of our drug needs in this part of the world.”

He said the rate at which International donor agencies were buying up heavily subsidised drugs for distribution in third world countries, in the very near future pharmaceutical firms in the country would be chased out of the market. “That is why the call for the establishment of the Pharmaceutical Development Fund is not only apt but timely in the present circumstance.