Pharmaceutical manufacturers have disclosed that the Federal Government is yet to compensate them for un-lawfully holding on to the N1 billion worth of codeine products seized from their factories last year.
According to the manufacturers, this is barely one year, the Federal Government through the National Agency for Foods and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), commenced mop up exercise to recall codeine syrup products in circulation nationwide.
Particularly, they lamented that the continued seizure of the products by government has taken a toll on their manufacturing bottom-line and revenues, as many of them are yet to experience stability in their business.
Speaking in Lagos, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Nnamdi Okafor rued that many pharmaceutical firms were yet to recover from the government’s seizure running into N1billion for over one year now and the products are still being held by NAFDAC without concrete information being communicated to them on the way forward.
A visibly angry Okafor explained that the seizure by NAFDAC has brought about unplanned restructuring of some organisations, job losses, revenue losses, among others.
He pointed out that government’s forcefully holding on to the products without recourse to compensation, amounts to sabotaging drugs manufacturing in Nigeria.
Okafor clarified that the products seized were authorised and approved by government for them to manufacture and for public consumption, emphasising that codeine syrup was not harmful to the health, rather abuse of the product by youths was one of the reasons for recalling the products in circulation nationwide.
He disclosed that May & Baker had already suffered drop of its codeine-based cough syrup which has tied down over N350 million worth of raw materials, while about N700 million in annual income revenue has been lost through the mop up exercise.
He explained that pharmaceutical manufacturers’ stance is for government to pay for the seizure and take the products to government’s hospitals under close monitoring.
“As far as the pharma industry is concerned, you are aware of the ban by the Federal Government on cough syrups containing codeine . That ban affected the country’s pharmaceutical industry especially companies that manufacture codeine or Benylin cough syrups. As we speak, government is holding on to finished products of codeine worth N1 billion from pharmaceutical companies.