FG Commended For Removing Import Duty On Drug’s Raw Materials

Former presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, has commended President Bola Tinubu for signing an Executive Order that delisted drugs raw materials from being charged import duty.

Okupe said the policy would help to lower the costs of drugs locally. He said it was a good one.

The former Media Adviser to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo said the federal government has to put up policies that would attract global pharmaceutical companies into the country.

He advised the federal government to implement tax incentives and waivers as backup to the import duty removed from raw materials for drugs. Doyin said such measures would help to attract foreign and local investors and address the current high cost of drugs.

“The removal of all charges from import of raw materials of drugs by FG is good and will help to lower the cost of drugs locally,” Okupe said.

He advised, “But govt need to go further by actively courting major pharmaceuticals globally to set up industries locally through tax incentives and waivers.”

The Cordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, on Tuesday, June 28, 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 (pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, devices such as needles and syringes, biologicals, medical textile, etc.).

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.

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.”