![\"ACPN](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ACPN-National-Chairman-Pharm.-Ambrose-Ezeh.webp?resize=860%2C574&ssl=1\")
This vision was outlined by the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) in the lead-up to its 44th Annual National Conference. ACPN National Chairman, Pharm. Ambrose Ezeh, revealed that several Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturers, alongside leading private investors, are currently building Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) plants\u2014investments valued in the tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese investments will transform the pharmaceutical landscape in Nigeria,\u201d said Ezeh. \u201cWith local API production, we\u2019re taking concrete steps to secure our medicine supply chain and establish Nigeria as a central hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing on the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driving Local Production and Medicine Sovereignty<\/h3>\n
The strategic investments in local drug production come amid ongoing efforts to reduce Nigeria\u2019s dependence on foreign pharmaceutical imports, which currently account for up to 70% of the nation\u2019s supply. This reliance has left the country vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions, forex volatility, and limited access to life-saving medicines.<\/p>\n
Ezeh stated that the pharmaceutical industry is looking to emulate models from India and China, where local production has become a cornerstone of economic and public health resilience.<\/p>\n
A critical component of Nigeria\u2019s pharmaceutical development agenda is the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC)<\/strong>. Under this initiative, the country recently secured $5.5 billion in private sector investments<\/strong> to launch the Empower Academy<\/strong>, a training institute dedicated to producing up to 2,000 pharmaceutical professionals annually, with a focus on regulatory compliance, API synthesis, and process engineering.<\/p>\n Despite recent progress, Ezeh noted that significant hurdles remain\u2014chief among them being infrastructure gaps, regulatory bottlenecks, and limited access to critical raw materials. To accelerate growth, the ACPN is calling for robust government support at both the federal and state levels.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government must offer deliberate incentives\u2014access to equipment, tax reliefs, and streamlined regulation\u2014to encourage compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and fuel sustainable local production,\u201d Ezeh said.<\/p>\n The association also identified the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)<\/strong> as a critical opportunity for Nigeria to expand its pharmaceutical exports, urging policymakers to harness the regional market potential.<\/p>\n Additionally, the ACPN advocated for the revival of key initiatives such as the Expedited Medicine Access Programme<\/strong>, a previously shelved intervention first introduced under the Petroleum Trust Fund to improve access to essential medicines across Nigeria.<\/p>\n The ACPN also used the occasion to address structural challenges within Nigeria\u2019s health sector, particularly the underrepresentation of pharmacists in key decision-making roles. The association decried the continued dominance of physicians in executive positions\u2014such as Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) and heads of health agencies\u2014arguing that such imbalances undermine collaborative healthcare delivery.<\/p>\n They highlighted ongoing resistance to the recognition of PharmD holders and consultant pharmacists, attributing the pushback to institutional opposition from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and related actors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot achieve a thriving healthcare system when pharmacists and other professionals are excluded from leadership and strategic roles,\u201d the ACPN stated.<\/p>\n The association cautioned the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare against unilateral policymaking that sidelines pharmaceutical stakeholders. It cited the controversial MEDIPOOL policy<\/strong> as a recent example of exclusionary governance that threatens to derail progress in the industry.<\/p>\n For Nigeria to realise its pharmaceutical ambitions, the ACPN concluded that a progressive, inclusive, and stakeholder-driven policy framework<\/strong> is essential. This includes sustained investment promotion, streamlined regulation, and a collaborative approach to healthcare governance.<\/p>\n The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria is a technical arm of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), representing licensed community pharmacists nationwide. The association advocates for improved pharmacy practice, access to quality medicines, and the integration of community pharmacies as vital components of Nigeria\u2019s healthcare delivery system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria\u2019s pharmaceutical industry is charting an ambitious path toward a tenfold expansion, with projections to grow from an estimated $2 billion to $10 billion over the next five years. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nigeria"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Nigeria-Eyes-10-Billion-Pharma-Industry-to-Strengthen-Medicine-Security-and-Boost-Local-Production.jpeg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6430"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6436,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430\/revisions\/6436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Policy Incentives and Industry Growth<\/h3>\n
Call for Inclusive Policy and Sector Leadership<\/h3>\n
Stakeholder Collaboration and Regulatory Reform<\/h3>\n
About the ACPN<\/strong><\/h3>\n