Angela Onwuzoo The Society for Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing of Nigeria has said that the recent executive order by President Bola Tinubu to remove tariffs, excise duties, and value-added tax on imported pharmaceutical inputs will reduce the hike in prices of drugs. SPSMN, in a statement jointly signed by its President, Tunde Oyeniran, and the Director of Publicity and Public Communications, Bunmi Ajagunna, further hailed the order as a transformative milestone for the industry. On June 30, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Tinubu had signed an executive order to increase local production of healthcare products such as pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and devices such as needles and syringes, biological and medical textiles, among others.
The order would grant special waivers and exemptions for the products for two years. Pate further noted that the ministers of Health, Finance, Industry, Trade, and Investment would develop a harmonized implementation framework that would speed up regulatory approvals. PUNCH Healthwise had reported that the prices of drugs witnessed a 300 percent rise following the exit of British Pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline, in August, the removal of fuel subsidy, and the naira devaluation.
The SPSMN president stated, “By reducing production costs, this policy will not only make medications more affordable for Nigerians but also stimulate investment in our pharmaceutical se.