Osinbanjo vows to unblock obstacles preventing business, industrial growth

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbanjo, has assured Nigerians and the international community that the Federal Government will remove all roadblocks and obstacles preventing the growth of businesses and local industries in the country.
While citing one of the roadblocks to be the high tariffs imposed on local products, the Vice President said that the Federal Government is working towards restructuring the current tariff structure to discourage the importation of products.
Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, stated this on Tuesday while declaring open the 89th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in Minna, Niger State.
He said the Federal Government recognizes the importance of the health sector and is committed to expanding the health sector by encouraging the growth of pharmaceutical industries in the country.
He said: “The role of pharmacists is very vital and critical to the development of Nigeria, they are an indispensable link. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria has contributed its quota to the development of Nigeria, they have contributed to the increase of quality healthcare in the country.”
Osinbajo reiterated government’s determination to repositioning the economy, getting the fundamentals right and support of reform efforts.
In his own address, Adewole emphasized that the Federal Government will continue to support the local production of pharmaceutical products.
He challenged local manufacturing companies to produce local, long lasting treated insecticide mosquito nets to stop government from importing these mosquito nets from other countries.
He said: “If the local manufacturers can produce the treated mosquito nets and they are of the right quality, the government will patronize them.
“We intend to give preference to local manufacturers of essential medicines.”
Adewole urged the pharmacists to join hands in eliminating substandard and counterfeit products in the health sector.
Earlier, the President of the PSN, Pharmacist Ahmed Ibrahim Yakasai, said the association is donating N50 million worth of various drugs to the Internally Displaced People camps in the North East, adding that pharmacists are ready to volunteer their services whenever it is needed in the IDP camps.
Yakasai stated that for any nation to achieve sustainable development, food and medicines security must be accorded priority in the national agenda, advocating for the implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guideline.
Yakasai lamented that the atmosphere of competition, confrontation and distrust in the health sector are part of the greatest banes of the healthcare sector and have contributed to the poor indices of health in the country.
He called on the Federal Government to give pharmaceutical manufacturers attractive incentives and support, pointing out that Nigeria has the highest number of pharmaceutical manufacturers in sub-sahara Africa.