The Nigeria government has indicated plans to extend by another two years, the Presidential Executive Order supporting local pharmaceutical manufacturing, as stakeholders seek sustained policies and investments to strengthen medicine security and position Nigeria as a regional pharmaceutical manufacturing hub.
The indication was given at the 8th Nigeria Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Expo (NPME) 2026, held at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Declaring the expo open, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to expanding domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing as a pathway to medicine security, healthcare resilience and economic development.
ALSO READ:FG, Kwara Select 16 Health Fellows for PHC
Salako stressed the need to strengthen capacity across the pharmaceutical value chain, including research and development, innovation, sourcing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients, formulation, manufacturing and quality assurance.
He also called for increased investment in sophisticated areas of production, including biologics, vaccines and other critical health technologies, while urging stronger regional cooperation to address regulatory barriers limiting access to African markets.
Also speaking, the Chairman of NPME 2026, Dr Patrick Ajah, said sustainable national development required the country to strengthen its capacity to manufacture products consumed by its citizens.
Ajah noted that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical market had historically depended heavily on imports, with about 70 per cent of medicines imported and 30 per cent produced locally, but said public-private collaboration had begun to change the situation.
He called for stronger partnerships among stakeholders to sustain the gains and create opportunities for Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturers to expand across Africa and the global market.
Significant Transformation
Meanwhile, the PMGMAN Chairman, Oluwatosin Jolayemi, said the sector was undergoing significant transformation, with the group now representing more than 200 local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies.
Jolayemi, however, said the gains needed to be protected through policy consistency and a predictable investment environment, particularly in the face of high energy and production costs, supply-chain challenges, port inefficiencies, limited access to long-term capital and market-access constraints.
He appealed to the Nigeria government to extend the Presidential Executive Order, whose current policy window is expected to expire in March 2027, by another two years.
According to him, the extension would enable manufacturers to deepen investments, expand production capacity and consolidate gains recorded in medicine security.
He said Nigeria’s ambition to become a regional pharmaceutical manufacturing hub must be supported by a competitive, scalable and resilient domestic manufacturing ecosystem.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh, represented by the Director of Chemical and Non-Pharmaceutical Industry, Mr John Okpe Oluwa, said the government was working to move Nigeria from an import-dependent market towards greater self-sufficiency under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Enoh said the government was targeting 70 per cent domestic production of essential medicines while developing an ecosystem capable of meeting the country’s medical needs.
He said increased domestic manufacturing would also provide a foundation for expanding Nigeria’s pharmaceutical exports into West Africa and the wider African market through the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The minister listed proposed interventions, including expanded tax exemptions, tariff waivers on raw materials and machinery, incentives for backward integration in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients, as well as dedicated pharmaceutical intervention funds.
Construction Upgrade
Furthermore, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, disclosed that 37 local manufacturing facilities were undergoing retrofitting and construction upgrades to meet international standards.
Adeyeye said NAFDAC had made progress towards WHO global benchmarking and strengthened regulatory enforcement against non-compliant facilities, adding that reforms under the 5+5 policy had contributed to reducing drug importation and encouraging local manufacturers to improve their standards.
She stressed that Nigeria could not afford to reverse the gains recorded in local pharmaceutical manufacturing, urging intensified efforts towards the production of vaccines and other critical health commodities.
At the continental level, the Director-General of the African Medicines Agency, Dr Delese Mimi Darko, called for stronger regulatory cooperation among African countries to accelerate access to quality-assured medicines and create a more integrated pharmaceutical market.
Darko said regulatory harmonisation would enable manufacturers to navigate African markets more efficiently, while urging investment in research and development, technology transfer, skilled manpower, intellectual property and quality systems.
The two-day expo, organised by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, attracted more than 200 exhibitors, alongside representatives of government agencies, development partners, investors, regulators, academia and industry.
PMGMAN also unveiled its Industry Self-Regulation Quality Plus Project, including a five-year Medicine Security Industry Advocacy Strategy for 2027–2031, an ISRQ+ laboratory, and a Data Repository and Learning Centre.
The group said the initiatives were designed to strengthen industry intelligence, quality capacity, evidence-based advocacy and continuous learning, with the various components expected to be commissioned progressively within the next six to 10 months.
