The Federal Government has challenged pharmaceutical manufacturers and researchers to intensify efforts to harness Nigeria’s rich plant resources for the development of new medicines, saying indigenous phytomedicinal resources could play a greater role in addressing the country’s health challenges and strengthening its pharmaceutical industry.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, gave the charge on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers Expo (NPME), held at Harbour Point Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. Salako said research and development must occupy a central position in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical transformation, particularly through the systematic exploration of the country’s biological resources and their conversion into safe, effective and commercially viable health products.
He noted that plants had contributed to the development of several important medicines, including antimalarial drugs, opioid analgesics and cancer chemotherapeutics, stressing that Nigeria should pay greater attention to its own biological resources as potential sources of healthcare solutions. “Africa is home to about 25 per cent of the world plant genetic resources. This is the time for Nigeria to pay more attention to them as potential healthcare resources,” he said.
The minister urged major pharmaceutical companies to collaborate with government and research institutions to develop Nigeria’s phytomedicinal resources and translate scientific discoveries into products that could be made available to healthcare practitioners and patients. “I invite our pharmaceutical giants to collaborate with us in developing our phytomedicine resources and put them on our shelves for use by our medical practitioners,” he said, positioning greater industry involvement in research as an important step towards converting Nigeria’s biological wealth into practical healthcare solutions.
Salako said the need to strengthen indigenous pharmaceutical research had become more urgent following the disruption of global medicine supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, when pharmaceutical nationalism threatened access to essential medicines in many countries. He argued that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical ambitions must therefore extend beyond the importation of active pharmaceutical ingredients, excipients, packaging materials and technologies for final assembly, to the development of domestic capabilities across the entire value chain, from research and raw materials to formulation, manufacturing, quality assurance and distribution.
“Localization cannot simply mean importing active pharmaceutical ingredients, packaging materials and technologies, assembling the final product in Africa,” Salako said, stressing that the country must progressively develop capacity in research and development, upstream sourcing of APIs, excipients and other raw materials, commercial formulation, manufacturing, quality assurance and distribution.
According to him, the same approach must eventually extend to vaccines, biologics, diagnostics and other critical health technologies. He said the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) was already contributing to this effort through its API Capacity Building and Concept Production Centre, which he described as West Africa’s first dedicated API training and development hub, established with support from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
Salako disclosed that the NIPRD centre was now fully operational and had helped catalyse the development of what he described as sub-Saharan Africa’s first commercial active pharmaceutical ingredient production plant in Ogun State. He also said NIPRD was working with the European Union and other partners to develop a roadmap aimed at strengthening medicines security and reducing the risk of Africa being marginalised during future global health emergencies.
The minister further highlighted the €18 million Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies (MAV+) project, describing it as a major initiative for strengthening research, development and local manufacturing capacity in vaccines, biologics, diagnostics and medical devices. He said the project was expected to strengthen the capacity of relevant stakeholders, including local manufacturers, to improve access to critical health technologies.
Beyond research and development, Salako said Nigeria must create the market conditions necessary for pharmaceutical manufacturers to invest confidently in domestic production. He cited the Federal Executive Council’s approval in May 2025 of Medipool, Nigeria’s first national Group Purchasing Organisation for essential medicines and medical commodities, as an intervention designed to aggregate the purchasing needs of healthcare facilities, negotiate bulk purchases with manufacturers and suppliers, and coordinate procurement and distribution. He said Medipool was expected to reduce costs, improve supply-chain efficiency and provide more predictable demand for domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers, thereby strengthening the link between local production, procurement and healthcare delivery.
Salako also urged manufacturers to look beyond Nigeria’s domestic market and take advantage of regional integration to achieve the scale required for competitive pharmaceutical production. Rather than treating countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire as isolated markets, he said manufacturers should leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area to access a wider market. “This is the economic logic of regional manufacturing which is not merely manufacturing for Africa, but making Africa a competitive manufacturing base for the world,” he said.
Salako said Nigeria’s pharmaceutical future should ultimately be defined by its ability to convert its scientific knowledge, natural resources and manufacturing capacity into products capable of meeting the health needs of its people and other African populations. “Let us therefore move from dependency to capability, from fragmented markets to regional scale, and from localization to genuine African pharmaceutical sovereignty,” he said.
He called for stronger collaboration among government, pharmaceutical manufacturers, universities, research institutions, investors and development partners, stressing that “our health as a country and as a continent will not be secured only in hospitals and laboratories. It will also be secured in our factories, universities, research centres, supply chains and investment decisions.”
