Firm reaffirms commitment to Africa’s health resilience
Once more, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has underscored its dedication to fostering the expansion and enhancement of domestic pharmaceutical production, with the objective of bolstering healthcare resilience throughout various African nations.
Mrs. Uzoma Ezeoke, who serves as the Executive Director of the organization, disclosed this information during the recent ECOWAS @50 sub-regional conference in Lagos.
As a panelist at the forum centered around "Regional Integration: A Pathway to Peace and Security, Trade, and Investment within the ECOWAS Sub-region—Achievements, Challenges, Solutions, and Prospects," Ezeoke delivered a presentation entitled "Domestic Production Ensures Pharmaceutical Safety."
She highlighted the firm’s strategic interventions in addressing challenges limiting access to life-saving and affordable healthcare—particularly drugs and medical essentials—across Africa.
According to her, its efforts towards ensuring self-sufficiency in medicine and capacity building in Africa include the production of over 160 products across five factories, employment of more than 2,000 staff, and a wide network of distributors.
She noted that the firm’s Sagamu plants, built to world-class standards, currently export products to between 23 and 27 African countries, including direct exports to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ezeoke also mentioned that they maintain a robust domestic presence throughout all 36 states of Nigeria along with the Federal Capital Territory, supported by more than 250 distributors spread across the country.
She added that Emzor’s Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) facility in Sagamu, Ogun State, highlights the firm's pioneering and progressive strategy for addressing Africa’s medication supply issues—particularly in lowering maternal and infant death rates.
Ezeoke mentioned that the API facility aims to considerably decrease drug imports—which represent one of the main causes of inferior medications in Africa—lessen reliance on foreign currency, boost domestic capabilities, improve accessibility to high-quality healthcare, and support an increase in GDP throughout the region.
She highlighted the company's emphasis on product innovation and quality, addressing critical gaps within the healthcare sector like research, development, and the domestic manufacturing of essential medicines.
She assured that it would continue to play a leading role in the pharmaceutical industry across sub-Saharan Africa.
At the event, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors from the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Gabriel Idahosa, emphasized that regional integration plays a vital role in advancing West Africa's economy. He reaffirmed LCCI’s dedication to fostering trade, investments, and security as key pillars for maintaining peace.
In his address entitled "Regional Integration as an Economic Foundation," Idahosa highlighted how political unrest and security issues across various sections of West Africa, such as previous conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, have hindered progress. He emphasized that for economic advancement, Nigeria along with neighboring nations needs to focus primarily on maintaining stability.
He called for continued regional peacekeeping efforts to address these issues and stated that although intra-regional trade within ECOWAS grew from $4.5 billion in 1979 to $17.6 billion in 2023, it still accounts for only 12% of the region’s total trade.
Idahosa highlighted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could boost intra-African trade by over 50% by 2030 and that the proposed ECOWAS single currency could streamline trade within the sub-region.
During his keynote speech, the president of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Dr. George Donkor, highlighted the institution's key function in funding regional projects like transport systems, power facilities, and information and communication technology networks.
He mentioned that the bank backs the West African Power Pool to improve energy connectivity, fosters industrialization and provides support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to promote financial inclusiveness. Additionally, they encourage collaboration between the public and private sectors to reduce risks associated with investments.
The conference gathered important participants from throughout West Africa to discuss approaches for speeding up regional integration via improvements in healthcare, education, farming, support for young people and women, technological advancements, and industrial growth.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
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