Edo in talks with Chinese investors to revive pharmaceutical company

The Edo State Government says it is in talks with Chinese investors and other prospective investors for the establishment of drug manufacturing companies in the State.

Kenny Okojie, Executive Secretary, Edo State Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency (DMA), stated this at a press briefing organised by the Ministry of Information and Strategy in Benin City.

Okojie said the proposed drug manufacturing company would entail the revitalisation of the moribund Edo Pharmaceutical Company located on Medical Store Road, Benin City.

She said the pharmaceutical company, established during the military administration of the late Samuel Ogbemudia, was vandalised in 2020 during the #EndSARs protest in the State.

According to her, when established, the company would supply drugs to neighbouring states, including Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo and Kogi, as well as other African countries.

“We’re looking at investors who had come to talk to us to establish a manufacturing firm that will be producing our medicine in the state. And it will not be for consumption of the State alone.

“We are looking at all the neighbouring states around us. We have Ondo, we have Delta, Bayelsa, Kogi and even into the African region too, because what they are coming in is a large, huge and focused manufacturing outfit.

“They want to have a PPI arrangement with us. They will build, establish and run. The state, we only give the enabling environment and the right policy for them to exist in the State.

“That’s where we are now. And in no time, we will be able to accomplish that mandate. It’s going to give employment to our youth, generate revenue to the state as well,” she said.

While attributing the development to the leadership provided by the Governor Monday Okpebholo-led administration, Okojie said the agency’s operations had been digitalised.

She said through software, the agency had been able to run its entire warehouses along with other DMAs in the country to establish a group purchasing framework.

According to her, through the framework, the agency had been able to bring into the warehouse part procurement worth N13.2 billion carried out in the State.

“I can say we are 90% fully stocked with medication that will go to all the health facilities and even to the private sector in the state,” she stated.

She also said the agency had since its inception renovated all the warehouses established from the time of the former Bendel State.

The executive secretary said the warehouses were renovated by the Global Fund, noting that the state now has functional and standard warehouses for storing drugs.

“We have about 26 states that now have DMA and Edo is fortunate to be one. Edo State is the first in the South. Edo State is also the first to establish DMA that was able to hit the ground running within six months.

“We’ve renovated all the warehouses that had been right from the time of Bendel State. The warehouses were all renovated by Global Fund. So we have functional and highly standard warehouses to warehouse our medications.

“The function of the DMA is, among others, to ensure that we have affordable medicine for our citizens, as well as to also ensure that the medicines we are taking are of high standard,” she added.

Okojie further stated that the State Government, in prioritising the healthcare of citizens, was now purchasing drugs directly from manufacturers at affordable prices.

She said the cost was far cheaper when compared with that of middlemen.

“The governor has been able to bring to us medicines that are affordable. There is no middleman in anything that comes to the Drug Management Agency. We’re talking directly to manufacturers.

“The manufacturers have promised us that the medications they are giving us, the prices, they don’t even give to their distributors over the years. So that will be beneficial to you and I.

“And because of that, other sponsors who are involved in giving products to the different states are talking with us also.

“So we’ll have free products that we’ll be able to distribute for family planning and for malaria. Today, we have a free malaria medicine distribution around the hospitals in the state. If there is anyone who is not giving treatment for free, if it is malaria, we want to make it clear that malaria drugs are free,” she said.

Okojie said the agency was registered and supervised by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

She, however, assured that as a highly regulated, registered and monitored agency, the DMA would not compromise standards in the discharge of its responsibilities.