Beyond Waivers: What Nigeria Must Do for Its Pharma Sector -By Patrick Iwelunmor

Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry is at a critical juncture. Structural weaknesses threaten a sector that underpins public health, jobs, and national security. Every day, patients wait for medicines that are delayed or expensive because local factories cannot meet demand. Without decisive action, the country risks losing the capacity to produce essential medicines domestically, leaving lives at the mercy of imports, global supply shocks, and unpredictable logistics.

Speaking to this writer during the 2026 Economic Outlook and CEOs Forum in Lagos, Pharm. Bankole Ezebuilo, National Chairman of the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria, painted a stark picture. He described factories struggling to pay workers, young pharmacists leaving for better opportunities abroad, and companies unable to expand because bank loans carry interest rates of 30 to 40 percent. He emphasized that industries cannot survive on goodwill or policy statements alone. Technical competence, knowledge transfer, and institutional resilience are essential. Where these foundations are weak, decline is inevitable, regardless of good intentions or short-term interventions. In a sector where mistakes can be fatal, the stakes are personal.

Capacity alone cannot compensate for structural obstacles. In other countries, pharmaceutical firms access subsidised capital and modern infrastructure, enabling them to innovate and expand. In Nigeria, import waivers are presented as progress, but they treat only one part of a complex problem. Manufacturers cannot scale production, improve quality, or invest in research and development when financing, logistics, and power remain unreliable. The result is that medicines remain expensive, factories remain small, and patients wait longer than they should.

The scale of Nigeria’s reliance on imports illustrates the urgency. The country currently produces nearly 0 percent of its required Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), relying almost entirely on imports. Every tablet produced locally carries the hidden cost of raw materials shipped from abroad. This dependency drains foreign exchange, inflates prices, and exposes patients to shortages. Only about 10 percent of local pharmaceutical firms have access to affordable bank facilities, leaving most to operate under prohibitive financial conditions that stifle growth.

Encouragingly, progress is within reach. The Emzor Pharmaceutical API Plant, a $23 million facility in Sagamu, Ogun State, is over 90 percent complete and expected to begin full-scale operations any moment from now. Its laboratory has already developed five antimalarial APIs, demonstrating that local innovation is possible. Local manufacturers and private investors are pouring tens of millions of dollars into additional API plants to secure the national medicine supply. These facilities, once operational, will reduce import dependence and stabilize access to life-saving medicines. Complementing this is the Empower Academy, which will train 2,000 professionals annually in API production and process engineering. Behind every statistic are young chemists, engineers, and technicians preparing to keep Nigeria’s medicine supply running.

It is important to acknowledge that the current administration has signaled positive intent, notably through the 2024 executive order and duty waivers on pharmaceutical imports. These interventions reflect awareness of the pressures facing local manufacturers. But they do not create the structural foundations necessary for sustainable growth. Without stronger support, factories will remain fragile, workers will remain underpaid, and patients will remain at risk.

To make Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry globally competitive, government action must go beyond temporary relief. Access to affordable, long-term financing is critical. Manufacturers need funds to invest in modern equipment, expand production, and train skilled personnel. Reliable power supply, logistics support, and industrial parks designed for pharmaceutical production would reduce operational costs and enhance efficiency. Strengthening supply chains to ensure consistent access to raw materials is equally critical. Capacity building is essential, but without local production of raw materials, skills alone cannot secure the industry.

Regulatory processes must also be coherent and predictable. Support for local research and incentives for backward integration would strengthen the domestic value chain. By investing in local API production, Nigeria can reduce dependence on imports, build industrial resilience, and ensure access to essential medicines even during global disruptions. Above all, policy consistency and long-term planning are essential. Manufacturers need certainty to compete globally rather than responding to stopgap interventions or emergency measures.

NAIP’s decision to involve traditional rulers in the conversation may seem unconventional, but Ezebuilo explained that it reflects the urgency of the moment. When formal channels fail, industries turn to societal voices to convey the stakes. That such measures are necessary highlights broader governance gaps. Every delayed policy response costs factories, workers, and patients.

The argument is clear. Drug security is national security. COVID-19 exposed the fragility of global supply chains. When China and India restricted production, countries dependent on imports faced immediate shortages. Nigeria cannot rely on external suppliers for critical medicines. Finished drug manufacturing without control over raw materials only postpones vulnerability. Backward integration and industrial self-reliance are not luxuries. They are imperatives for national resilience.

Technology, including artificial intelligence, offers potential to transform pharmaceutical research and development. Yet no innovation can substitute for broken fundamentals. AI cannot offset unstable power supply, punitive financing, weak infrastructure, or inconsistent regulation. Sustainable innovation requires a stable industrial foundation. Investment in human capital, research hubs, and collaboration between universities and industry will ensure technological advances translate into tangible outcomes.

What emerges from my conversation with Ezebuilo is a broader critique of Nigeria’s industrial policy approach. Strategic sectors are often acknowledged in speeches, but support is piecemeal and short-term. Interventions are reactive, introduced in emergencies, and withdrawn before they can yield results. The result is a cycle of promise without follow-through. Without deliberate, coordinated planning, Nigeria risks perpetually responding to crises rather than proactively shaping industrial strength.

If pharmaceuticals are truly critical infrastructure, they must be treated as such. Deliberate policy, sustained investment, regulatory coherence, industrial financing, and protection of local capacity are essential. These measures are not concessions. They are strategic investments in public health, economic resilience, and national security. Failure to act decisively now will be measured not only in lost economic opportunity but in lives at stake.

The pharmaceutical industry’s distress is not merely an industry problem. It is a policy problem. Nigeria can continue to rely on import waivers and temporary interventions, or it can build a pharmaceutical industry capable of standing on its own. The difference between the two is the difference between vulnerability and sovereignty, between reactive dependence and proactive resilience. Nigeria must move beyond waivers. The time for deliberate, structural action is now.