The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee have announced a list of local pharmaceutical companies that will be engaged in their intervention programme in a bid to curtail the spread of the coronavirus disease. The companies will be given a grant to enable them to procure raw materials and equipment to boost local drug production in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele on Saturday, March 21, during a press briefing in Abuja.
In a press statement, the Bankers’ Committee gave its full support to the policy measures amounting to over N3.5 Trillion earlier announced by the CBN in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 on Nigeria.
Some of the pharmaceutical companies listed by the CBN Governor are May and Baker Plc, Neimeth International Plc, Unique Pharma, Swiss Pharma, Dana Pharma, Orange Drugs, Sagar, GSK, Emzor Pharmaceuticals. Mr Emefiele also mentioned that the list was not exhaustive as more companies could also benefit.
According to Emefiele “the Bankers’ Committee took the decision to support the pharmaceutical companies given the fact that the present pandemic was of grave public health concern, coupled with the fact that many drug-manufacturing countries planned or had already banned the export of drugs and medical supplies from their respective countries, thereby leaving Nigeria no choice but to produce the drugs locally.”