Pharmacists under the aegis of Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria(PSN) have commended the Federal Government on the recent Executive
Order on support for local content in public procurement.
Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo had on May 18, 2017,
signed the Executive Order, which mandated all Ministries, Departments and
Agencies (MDAs) of government to give preference to local goods and services in
their procurement activities.
The order also directed that made-in-Nigeria products should
be given preference in the procurement of relevant items as it stipulated that
40 per cent of spending by the MDAs must be expended on locally manufactured
goods and services.
A statement jointly signed by Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, PSN
President and Pharm Gbolagade Iyiola, PSN National Secretary, which was made
available to Independent, noted that the federal government deserves
commendation for deeming it fit to include locally manufactured medicines in
the Executive Order as specified in its Section 4F of the order.
This move will surely give a boost to pharmaceutical
industry in Nigeria by guaranteeing adequate medicines supply for our local
needs as well as export that will earn foreign currency for the economy, the
statement added.
PSN urged the players in the pharmaceutical companies to
exploit this window of opportunity with all seriousness.
“Doing this will place the pharmaceutical industry on a
pedestal where it will be able to contribute its own quota to the growth of the
economy by providing employment opportunities to the teeming Nigerian youths.”
However, PSN urged government to operate this policy thrust
with sincerity of purpose by ensuring that companies are paid promptly by MDAs
after they make supplies to them.
Recently, government parastatals had been frustrating
transactions between them and private players with huge burden of debts for
supplies coupled with bureaucracy and corruption endemic in the system when
payments are to be made, it noted.
PSN further called for a boost in the operating environments
for the pharmaceutical industry.
According to the body of pharmacists, the operating environments
need to be made more conducive with improvement in infrastructure, cheap loan
facilities and a regime of tax holidays as we have been canvassing all along.
The group also pledged her continued commitment towards the
realisation of sustainable access to affordable and quality medicines to
Nigerians.
