Unless the Federal Government intervenes urgently
in the matter concerning the ECOWAS Common External Tariff and the challenges
it is posing for the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, about one million
workers in that industry may lose their jobs before the year runs out.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.
The group described government’s decision to
allocate 60 per cent foreign exchange to the manufacturing sector as laudable,
but added that there were other key policies that needed reforms in order to
rescue the local industry and safeguard national health care.
One of the policies, according to the manufacturers, is the ECOWAS CET.
It stated that
researches over the last 18 months had shown that capacity utilisation among
Pharma manufacturers was at an all-time low of 20 per cent; and 43 firms,
representing 30 per cent of the PMG-MAN members had shut down production owing
to lack of access to forex for critical raw materials.
The group added that if
nothing was done, another 30 per cent of its members could be forced to shut
down, and this might lead to one million job losses.
The statement read in
part, “Since local pharmaceutical manufacturing is directly linked to national
healthcare, a key policy that needs pressing reform in order to rescue the
local industry and in turn safeguard national healthcare includes the ECOWAS
CET policy.”
The statement quoted the
Chairman, PMG-MAN, Mr. Okey Akpa, as saying that efforts made so far in
addressing the CET imbalance were laudable, but warned that the high attrition
rate in the sector, and the consequences of further delays indicated the need
for government’s imminent intervention.
He said, “Further closure
of the PMG-MAN members’ factories will throw close to one million Nigerians out
of their jobs and into penury. This has started as many PMG-MAN members have
drastically reduced their workforce in response to reduced production capacity
necessitated by inadequate access to forex.”
According to Akpa, the
government has to urgently address the anomaly created by CET, whereby imported
medicines attract zero duty while raw and packaging materials for local
manufacturing attract up to 20 per cent duty, adding that this is inimical to
national interest.
He said that access to
funding at single digit interest rate was another urgent intervention needed to
reverse the catastrophic decline in the sector.
The statement said, “The
pharmaceutical manufacturing sector usually considered the lifeline of the
national healthcare system has been racked with desperate challenges as
operations in most factories have almost grounded to a halt. Researches over
the last 18 months indicate that capacity utilisation among Pharma
manufacturers is at an all-time low of 20 per cent; and 43 firms, representing
30 per cent of the PMG-MAN members have shut down production owing to lack of
access to forex for critical raw materials, mainly active pharmaceutical
ingredients and machinery inputs.”
Punch
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