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Tinubu Praised For Executive Order On Drug Import Duties
Doyin Okupe commends Tinubu’s Executive Order removing import duties on drug raw materials and urges additional incentives to attract pharmaceutical companies to Nigeria.
Former presidential aide Doyin Okupe has commended President Bola Tinubu for signing an Executive Order that exempts raw materials for drugs from import duty. Okupe stated that this policy would help lower the cost of drugs locally and is a positive step forward.
Okupe, who served as Media Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, emphasized the need for the federal government to implement additional policies to attract global pharmaceutical companies to Nigeria.
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He suggested that tax incentives and waivers should accompany the removal of import duties on raw materials for drugs. Such measures, he argued, would attract foreign and local investors and help address the high cost of drugs.
“The removal of all charges from the import of raw materials for drugs by the federal government is good and will help to lower the cost of drugs locally,” Okupe said.
He added, “But the government needs to go further by actively courting major pharmaceuticals globally to set up industries locally through tax incentives and waivers.”
On Tuesday, June 28, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, announced that President Tinubu, in a transformative move to revitalize Nigeria’s health sector, signed an Executive Order aiming to increase local production of healthcare products, including pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, devices such as needles and syringes, biologicals, and medical textiles.
Tinubu Executive Drug Import
The Order yet to be codified, according to Pate, introduced zero tariffs, excise duties and VAT on specified machinery, equipment and raw materials, aiming to reduce production costs and enhance our local manufacturers’ competitiveness.
The specified items include Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, excipients, other essential raw materials required for manufacturing of crucial health products like drugs, syringes and needles, Long-lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) and Rapid Diagnostic Kits, among others.
The Order also provided for establishing market shaping mechanisms such as framework contracts and volume guarantees, to encourage local manufacturers.
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Pate said the “implication of this order is pivot towards market-based incentives to encourage medical industrialization, reducing costs of medical products through import substitution over time, creating and retaining economic value and enabling job creation in the healthcare value chain.”
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