By
Pharmacists under the aegis of Pharmaceutical
Society of Nigeria (PSN) have hailed 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.
