IGMPI India

The bank of Industry is the oldest and most successful development finance institution in Nigeria. It is boosting the local manufacturing of drugs by contributing its quota towards ensuring that Nigerian Drug Manufacturers not only make safe drugs but also produce medications which could gain Nigeria a respectable position on the world map. The main focus of BOI is to boost the Nigerian Industrial Revolution in order to increase the exports and reduce the imports of drugs. Nigerian Pharmaceutical companies produce a wide range of drugs including antimalarials, antibiotics, antihypertensive drugs, etc and have a huge market but still import a lot.

According to a statement given by Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of BOI, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, the BOI has enabled the two local drug makers- Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited, and May & Baker Nigeria PLC attain the World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalification for Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) through their credit and other sector defined interventions. According to Olaoluwa, the BOI assisted companies can pass WHO prequalification which will enable these companies to export their products and position Nigeria in international pharmaceutical markets where already countries like India, US, Germany and China have their hold.

 The BOI was also associated with Swipha in West Africa which was the first country in West Africa to obtain the WHO prequalification. Besides Swipha, BOI has also supported six other pharmaceutical companies at the same time which are at various stages of being certified internationally. Olaoluwa also said that reducing the imports will lessen the pressure on the foreign reserves and therefore foreign reserves can be increased by exporting some of the products of Nigeria. Nigeria consists of 170 million people but constitutes only 60 % of the West African population. The BOI is also ready to provide support to the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Industries for product specific certification.