The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has solicited international partners’ support to establish vaccine manufacturing facilities in the country.

NAFDAC Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye made the call while speaking at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers Expo in Lagos.

The expo was organised by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), in collaboration with PGE Expo PVT Limited.

Ms Adeyeye acknowledged international partners’ continued support for NAFDAC’s trajectory at the event jointly organised by PMG-MAN and PGE Expo PVT Ltd.

She said their contributions would be immensely appreciated toward fill-and-finish modular vaccine manufacturing, adding that NAFDAC had met eight of nine functions required for medicines and vaccines benchmarking requirements overall.

“We want to call on our international partners that have been of tremendous help. Without them, we would not have been here, while urging support for vaccine manufacturing in Nigeria,” she said.

The director-general said Nigeria has all it takes to attain Vaccine Lot Release Maturity Level Four, aside from local vaccine manufacturing, adding that estimated costs would not be high.

“To get Lot Release Maturity Level Four, we have figured it out in a way we have estimated. It’s not going to cost too much.

“NAFDAC used to manufacture vaccines, and it’s high time we go back to that era and regain that capacity nationwide,” she added.

Ms Adeyeye commended President Bola Tinubu for the 2024 Executive Order, which she said brought life to NAFDAC’s persistent clamour for incentives for local pharmaceutical manufacturers nationwide.

She said the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare and the Minister of State for Health bought into the rationale for incentives, partly leading to the unlocking of the value chain initiative.

According to her, the journey began with the Good Manufacturing Practice Roadmap, during which NAFDAC inspectors conducted compliance audits of over 165 companies nationwide for eight consecutive months.

She said the initiative, funded by USAID and executed by the United States Pharmacopoeia, helped ensure manufacturers produced quality products, improving patient health outcomes during treatment without failure ultimately.

Ms Adeyeye added that data showed imports under ‘Five plus Five’ and the Ceiling Initiative decreased by 70 per cent from 2021 to 2025, as manufacturers fully took up the challenge themselves.

She said NAFDAC’s improved staff competence, laboratory recognition, and successful re-benchmarking also strengthened the agency, adding that NAFDAC became the first agency in Sub-Saharan Africa to be successfully re-benchmarked again.

The chairman of PMG-MAN, Oluwatosin Jolayemi, said the expo brought manufacturers, regulators, investors and development partners together, calling for the extension of the executive order beyond March 2027, the deadline period for industry.

(NAN)