Bank of Industry injects life into local drug production

Rasheed Olaoluwa, chief executive officer of BOI said the bank had enabled two local drug makers attain World Health Organisation prequalification for good manufacturing practice, which puts them in line for WHO to prequalify their products.He spoke during a facility tour of the firms Swiss Pharma and May & Baker, which it granted credit facilities […]

Rasheed Olaoluwa, chief executive officer of BOI said the bank had enabled two local drug makers attain World Health Organisation prequalification for good manufacturing practice, which puts them in line for WHO to prequalify their products.
He spoke during a facility tour of the firms Swiss Pharma and May & Baker, which it granted credit facilities two years ago for upgrade.
“When we supported Swiss Pharma, we actually supported six pharmaceutical companies. Others are at various stages of being certified internationally. By the time they attain that international standard, the consumers as well as medical doctors can have assurance that the drugs they are using from this company are of international quality.
“The second thing is that, by the time we begin to reduce our imports, the pressure on our foreign reserves will be less and we can actually begin to grow our foreign reserves by exporting some of these products. Nigeria is 170 million people but only 60 percent of the West African population, so this region is up for grabs. I expect all pharmaceutical companies to sustain the current effort to attain international quality so we can become exporters of drugs,” he concluded
Further, Olaoluwa said the next stage is to go into product specific certification. He explained that the Bank of Industry was already in discussion with the companies to ensure that also and whatever support that can be rendered will be offered.
“At the end of the day all we are doing is about the Nigerian industrial revolution plan. It’s about the key sectors of the Nigerian economy and about how we can support the leading players to produce what we require as a country locally.”