Nigeria's Pharmaceutical Industry: Addressing Over-Reliance on Importation and Proposing Sustainable Solutions

In Africa, Nigeria can be regarded as the most populous country with a population size of 227 million people and also a lower-middle-income country. As at 2014, according to a report by WHO, 25% of the pharmaceutical products needed by Nigerians were delivered locally, while the remaining 75% are imported from nations such as India, UK and China, this performance indices indicate poor performance. Due to the heavy reliance on importation faced by the Nigeria's pharmaceutical industry, access to medicines that are essential has been limited and local production capacity has weakened. With the growing interest in plant-based therapies, dosage standardisation for many of these herbal products due to insufficient funding for extensive research into herbal medicine and insufficient clinical trials has made it difficult to assess the effectiveness of herbal treatment systematically and validate scientifically the traditional remedies. Limited facilities for in-vivo and in-vitro studies further limits knowledge advancement in pharmaceutical sciences. The effects of these situations have resulted into drug shortages, prolific substandard medicines and vulnerability to supply chain disruptions. Addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach involving policy reform, and the establishment of well-equipped pharmaceutical research and production facilities. Countries such as India and the United States have implemented initiatives backed up by the government which has enabled local companies to manufacture APIs, enhance self-sufficiency in healthcare and research capabilities. Nigeria can adopt similar strategies to reduce dependency on importation and promote innovation in the pharmaceutical sector.