Nigeria’s pharmaceutical output more than doubled from 2018 to 2024, but participants at a Friday, Oct. 30, Abuja session said reliance on imported ingredients leaves medicine supply vulnerable to disruption. Premium Times reported the warning; Nigeria Health Watch and the World Bank Group convened the session.
The World Bank Group’s May 2025 diagnostic says the number of pharmaceutical firms rose from 115 to 186 over the period. It estimates that imported finished pharmaceuticals account for about 70% of consumption in Nigeria. The conference page says manufacturers import virtually all active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), the substances that produce a medicine’s therapeutic effect. These figures cover different parts of the supply chain. Pharmaceutical sales totaled $2.03 billion in 2023, equivalent to 14.6% of health care spending, the report says.
The diagnostic describes a COVID-era disruption across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): imports were interrupted for over half a year, paracetamol’s active ingredient became scarce in Nigeria, and the drug’s retail price climbed to four times its normal level. The report also cites unreliable electricity, shortages of skilled workers, limited access to capital and regulatory delays as barriers to expanding local production.
Chris Isokpunwu, permanent secretary of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said local production could reduce exposure to foreign-exchange pressures, support skilled jobs and retain more economic value in Nigeria, Premium Times reported. He cautioned that domestically made ingredients would still need to meet quality standards and compete on price and reliability. “Nigeria cannot achieve sustainable health security while remaining heavily dependent on external sources for critical pharmaceutical inputs,” Isokpunwu said.
Nigeria’s 2024 Executive Order sets tariffs and excise duties at zero for listed goods. For specified APIs, excipients and other raw materials, it also sets value-added tax (VAT) at zero. The Nigeria Customs Service said in March 2025 that eligible manufacturers’ inputs would receive import-duty and VAT exemptions for two years.
A planned antimalarial API plant by Emzor illustrates the challenge of moving from financing to production. The European Investment Bank’s project record lists about €14 million in financing, signed Dec. 21, 2022, for a €23 million project. BusinessDay reported the loan as €13.85 million. Punch reported the Sagamu facility had not been commissioned by the end of August, and BusinessDay said Oct. 22 that commissioning targets had slipped without a new date.
The session agenda asked which one or two APIs Nigeria might feasibly produce and who would need to take the next steps.
