Felix Omoh-Asun in Benin City
Edo State Government said it had concluded plans for the revitalisation of the moribund Edo Pharmaceutical Company located in Benin City.
The government also disclosed that the state was in talks with Chinese investors and others for the establishment of drug manufacturing companies using the abandoned pharmaceutical company as a launch pad.
Executive Secretary of Edo State Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency (DMA), Kenny Okojie, disclosed the moves on Wednesday at a monthly press briefing by Ministry of Information and Strategy in Benin City.
Okojie 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.
She said when fully rehabilitated the company would supply drugs to neighbouring Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Kogi states, and other African countries.
Okojie stated, “We are looking at investors who had come to talk to us to establish a manufacturing firm that will be producing drugs 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. 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.”
While attributing the development to the leadership provided by the Governor Monday Okpebholo administration, Okojie added that the systems of the agency had been digitalised.
She said through a software, the agency had been able to run the entire warehouses along with other DMAs in the country to have a group purchasing framework.
She said with the framework, the agency had been able to bring into the warehouse a part procurement of N13.2 billion that was done in the state.
Okojie stated, “I can say we are 90 per cent fully stocked with medication that will go to all the health facilities and even to the private sector in the state.”
She added that the agency had since its inception renovated all the warehouses that were established from the time of the old Bendel State.
The executive secretary, who said the warehouses were renovated by Global Funds, stated that with the achievement the state now had functional and highly standard warehouses to store drugs.
Okojie said, “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 have renovated all the warehouses that had been right from the time of the Bendel State. The warehouses were all renovated by Global Funds. 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.”
Okojie said the state government in prioritising the healthcare of citizens, was now purchasing drugs directly from the manufacturers with affordable cost.
She said the cost was far cheaper when compared to that of the middlemen.
Okojie stated, “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 will 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 states. If there is anyone that is not giving treatment free, if it is malaria, we want to make it clear that malaria drugs are free.”
Okojie said the agency was registered and supervised by Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
She assured that as a highly regularised, registered, and monitored organisation, the agency would not compromise standard in the discharge of its responsibilities.