Pharmaceuticals want urgent FG intervention in CET anomaly to forestall closures

Nigerian drug makers are calling on the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the Common External Tariff (CET) anomaly to avoid closure of many firms.

The CET, which started in June 2015, allows finished drugs to be imported into Nigeria at no tariff, while raw and packaging materials are brought in at five and 20 percent.

This is hitting Nigeria’s drug makers hard, as they struggle to compete with importers of medicines in the local market, especially during bids.

Okey Akpa, chairman, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), said this was inimical to national interest.

Akpa appreciated efforts made by the Federal Government so far in addressing the CET imbalance, but warned that the high attrition rate in the sector and the disastrous consequences of further delays were reasons for government urgent intervention.

He added that access to funding at single digit interest rate was another urgent intervention needed to reverse the catastrophic decline in the sector.

“The pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, usually considered the lifeline of the National Healthcare System, is bedevilled with many challenges, pushing operations in most factories to a halt. Research over the last 18 months indicate that capacity utilisation among pharmaceutical manufacturers is at an all-time low of 20 percent, and over a third of PMG-MAN members have shut down production due to lack of access to foreign exchange for critical raw materials, mainly active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and machinery inputs,” Akpa added.

He said increase in cost of healthcare treatment and shortage of medicines should be tackled urgently as they were not palatable for the country.

“If unchecked, there may be an unprecedented level of medicines’ scarcity, exorbitant prices and a reprehensible overdependence on drug importation, which may expose the nation again to the menace of faking and counterfeiting,” he added.

He further argued that with the highest proportion of publicly listed healthcare companies, PMG-MAN was easily the highest employer of labour in the sector.

“Further closure of PMG-MAN members’ factories will throw close to one million Nigerians out of their jobs and into penury. This has started as many PMG-MAN members have drastically reduced their workforce in response to reduced production capacity necessitated by inadequate access to FX,” he further said.

ODINAKA ANUDU