Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

As part of efforts to strengthen local manufacturing and stimulate investment across the pharmaceutical ecosystem, the federal government has signed three landmark agreements with the European Union (EU) and ECOWAS, on Thursday.

These agreements, which are part of the EU Global Gateway Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines, and Health Technologies (MAV+) initiative and SRHR flagships, will support a new generation of local producers and innovators that will build a stronger and more resilient health sector in Nigeria and West Africa.

The agreements cover key areas including local manufacturing of health commodities, immunisation and nutrition commodities in Nigeria (ELM-N),  quality uplift for advancing local industry in medicine standards (Qualimeds Nigeria) and strengthening reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in West Africa.

In his address at the Nigeria-EU Health Investment Forum hosted by the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) in Abuja, the Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, said the signing of the agreements reaffirm the federal government’s resolve to build a sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven health economy.

The vice president said President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order on local production of pharmaceuticals and medical devices had marked a turning point in Nigeria’s health sector.

He said, “Through the presidential initiative for Unlocking the healthcare value chain (PVAC), and complementary frameworks such as the sector-wide approach (SWAp), this administration has taken concrete steps to strengthen health governance, strengthen and stimulate investment and promote local manufacturing.”

Shettima, represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Public Health, Office of the Vice President, Dr. Uju Rochas, said the federal government remains steadfast in creating an enabling environment for investors and innovators through “predictable regulations, strong institutions, and public-private collaborations”.

He said, “Our message is clear: Nigeria is open for health investment, innovation, and impact. The President has declared that Nigeria’s health transformation will not be driven by aid and dependency alone, but by government to drive ownership, accountability and innovation: Made in Nigeria, for Nigerians, and by Nigerians.”

While commending the EU, PVAC, NIPRD, and other development partners for their commitment to advancing health security, technology transfer, and industrialisation in Nigeria, Shettima said: “As we formally declare this forum open and witness the signing of these landmark agreements, let it mark the beginning of a new chapter, one defined by shared prosperity, local innovation, and global collaboration.”

In his remarks, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, stated that the forum demonstrated Europe’s shared commitment to improving health across borders, through strategic investments.

“Working alongside all of our partners, including the Nigerian Authorities, United Nations, wider international community, and the private sector, we must build robust, resilient, and efficient health and social welfare systems to ensure prosperity for all,” he said.

He said the EU has been a long-standing partner of Nigeria and ECOWAS in health, supporting health in all its dimensions; from access to health services and large-scale immunisation, to polio eradication, medical research, and family planning: both through in-country programmes and contributions to multilateral pharmacies.

“We continue to support Nigeria through our Global Gateway initiatives, particularly reproductive health and maternal and child health, where we have a large ongoing project of €45 million in Nigeria, and almost €25 million in West Africa, funded with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Gates Foundation.”

The Envoy said there are upcoming initiatives on digital health and public health systems, adding that EU will want to support the paradigm shift taking place in Nigeria and West Africa, moving from aid to peer-to-peer collaboration, from standalone projects to a dynamic investment strategy.

“This is what our Global Gateway Investment Strategy is about,” he added.

In his address, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator. Abubakar Bagudu said the forum came at a moment when Nigeria is strengthening partnerships, reforming systems, and expanding investments to make healthcare accessible and affordable to every Nigerian.

He said, “We are talking about mutual prosperity, mutual gain, which is supported both by the nature of the industry and in part by the demographic divide.

“And I believe both the EU and Nigeria, even in spite of the existence of other competing blocs, can win together because the absorptive capacity of the Nigerian economy is quite enormous.

“So, we believe that the scope is great, the absorptive capacity is big, the political determination to get it right, I think by now is all very clear: President Bola Tinubu not only was willing, at a moment when it is even scary to take on some world reforms, given what is happening in the sub-region, took some of the most challenging reforms in order to put the economy on the correct pedestal.”

On his part, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammadu Pate, represented by the Director of Food and Drug Services, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Pharm. Dr. Olubunmi Aribeana, said that Nigeria is committed to ensuring that made-in-Nigeria health products serve not only its people but also the entire West African region and the world at large.

He said that as part of efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage, government considers local production of health commodities is not merely an economic choice; but as a strategic health security priority by scaling up domestic manufacturing of medicines, diagnostics, vaccines, and other health technologies

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