Reps Call For Action On Imported Substandard Drugs

Members of the Nigerian House of Representatives has called for the action to curtail the menace of imported substandard drugs into the country, adding that the discovery of coronavirus in the country is a threat to local drug production.

The lawmakers stated these during plenary yesterday and mandated its committees on Health Institutions, Health Care Services, and Science and Technology to organise a roundtable to chart a probable course for the development of locally-made drugs.

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They also urged the Federal Government to invest more in the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development to encourage local and indigenous research, as well as to revisit the National Drug Policy to promote the local drug industry.

The House made the call after adopting a motion moved by Hon. Dennis Idahosa.

The motion was titled: “Need to check the Rise of Drug Insecurity and to Encourage Indigenous Production of Drugs in Nigeria.”

Idahosa said: “The House is aware that Nigeria is largely dependent on China, among other countries, for the importation of active and non-active ingredients for production of drugs. China has recently been affected by coronavirus that has paralysed its economy, thus rendering it unable to produce or export those necessary ingredients or medicine.

“The House recalls the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, at an event on February 18, raised the alarm that the outbreak of coronavirus in China has the capacity to result in an uprising of drug insecurity. It also recalls one of Nigeria’s National Drug Policy targets was the increase in local production capacity to a level where 70 percent of total output satisfies at least 60 percent of national drug requirements of essential drugs, while the balance is exported by 2008.”