The President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Sam Ohuabunwa has called on the federal government to allocate foreign exchange to the pharmaceutical industry, so that manufacturers can make timely purchase of their equipment and raw materials.
In a recent press release, he expressed concern that while some pharmaceutical companies that applied for the special 100 billion CBN intervention facility had been granted, the majority of the applicants were yet to be successful.
He therefore called for an accelerated review and approval of the outstanding applications, stressing that, in doing so, the overall impact on industrial capacity, capability and output will be significantly enhanced in line with the noble objectives of the facility.
The PSN head also lamented that many of the beneficiary companies were having difficulty in accessing foreign exchange to facilitate their operations.
According to him: “The feedback we receive is that many of the beneficiary companies are experiencing tremendous difficulties in accessing foreign exchange to pay for the machinery and equipment in order. Many are compelled to source forex from sundry sources at much higher rates than the official CBN rate. The impact of this portends grave danger and may undermine the noble objectives.”
Ohuabunwa explained further that the longer it takes for the pharmaceutical manufacturing companies get machines and equipment in, the longer it will be for Nigeria to begin to see an enhanced local production.
