The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for a major expansion of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing, arguing that Nigeria cannot achieve health security while remaining heavily dependent on imported medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients, vaccines and medical supplies.
LCCI President Leye Kupoluyi said local pharmaceutical production should be treated simultaneously as a healthcare priority, industrial policy and investment opportunity.
He spoke at the chamber’s Medical, Pharmaceuticals and Allied Services Group symposium on the business of healthcare in a digital economy.
Kupoluyi said stronger domestic production could improve medicine availability, create jobs, attract investment and develop a more technology intensive healthcare industry.
He argued, however, that efforts to protect local manufacturers should not unintentionally reduce medicine availability or push prices beyond the reach of patients.
The chamber called for periodic reviews of medicines covered by import restrictions or ceiling lists.
It said decisions should be based on verifiable local manufacturing capacity, market competition, medicine availability and price movements.
LCCI also recommended temporary interventions where shortages or abnormal price increases threatened access.
Kupoluyi said sustainable pharmaceutical policy had to protect domestic industry while preserving affordability for patients.
The chamber also called for predictable regulation, improved infrastructure, stronger health insurance, sustainable financing, transparent procurement and carefully structured public private partnerships.
Kupoluyi said healthcare should increasingly be viewed as an economic sector capable of generating employment, technology, investment and productivity rather than only as a social service.
Iwosan Healthcare System Group Chief Executive Fola Laoye also called for a clearer legal framework governing telemedicine and clinical artificial intelligence.
She said Nigeria currently operated with fragmented rules and needed stronger data standards and workable reimbursement mechanisms for digital healthcare.
Laoye also argued that healthcare investors needed appropriately structured capital rather than simply cheap financing.
She urged providers to prioritize reliable clinical data systems and electronic medical records, describing them as essential foundations for healthcare enterprise value and future investment.
