Sick and stranded: Presidential order fails to curb soaring drug prices

Despite President Bola Tinubu’s executive order in June 2024 aimed at reducing drug costs by abolishing tariffs, excise duties, and Value Added Tax on pharmaceutical machinery and raw materials, Nigeria continues to battle soaring medication prices.

The intended policy, designed to ease the financial burden on patients, remains largely unenforced, leading to no relief for consumers or manufacturers.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, on June 28, 2024, announced on X that President Bola Tinubu signed an Executive Order aiming to increase local production of healthcare products

Pate noted that the order introduces zero tariffs, excise duties and VAT on specified machinery, equipment and raw materials, aiming to reduce production costs and enhance our local manufacturers’ competitiveness.

“Specified items include Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, excipients, other essential raw materials required for manufacturing of crucial health products like drugs, syringes and needles, Long-lasting Insecticidal Nets and Rapid Diagnostic Kits, among others.

“The Order also provides for establishing market shaping mechanisms such as framework contracts and volume guarantees, to encourage local manufacturers.

“The Order mandates collaboration between the Ministers of Health, Finance and Industry, Trade and Investment to develop a Harmonised Implementation Framework, expediting regulatory approvals and reducing bottlenecks,” Pate wrote.

The minister noted that agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, would ensure swift implementation, with special waivers and exemptions effective for two years.

A release issued by the Nigeria Customs Service on March 26, 2025, stated that the agency had commenced the implementation of the executive order.

The release, signed by the National Public Relations Officer of the Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, noted,” Drawing from Presidential directives aimed at enhancing local manufacturing of healthcare products, reducing the costs of medical equipment and consumables, as well as stimulating local investments, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is pleased to announce that His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, through the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Olawale Edun, has approved the comprehensive guidelines to actualise these objectives.

“Consequently, critical raw materials essential for the production of pharmaceutical products will be exempted from import duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) for a period of two years. This exemption covers Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), excipients, and other vital raw materials required for manufacturing essential medicines, Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs), Rapid Diagnostic Kits, reagents, and packaging materials.

“To ensure that these fiscal incentives are fully utilised, eligibility is limited to manufacturers of pharmaceutical products recognised by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, provided they possess a valid Tax Identification Number (TIN). This measure ensures that the benefits directly support legitimate manufacturers committed to strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure.”

Higher prices

However, new data show that drug prices in Nigeria have surged alarmingly despite government promises of relief. For most Nigerians, relief remains painfully out of reach. Instead of dropping, many essential medicines have climbed between 30 per cent and 100 per cent in just 14 months, piling more pressure on patients already struggling with the rising cost of living.

Market surveys conducted by The PUNCH comparing drug prices between June 2024, when the executive order was signed, and August 2025, revealed that drug prices have continued to soar, with several life-saving medications recording steep hikes with only a few exceptions.

The impact is particularly stark for chronic disease patients. Insulin, for instance, rose by 29 per cent from N14,000 in June 2024 to N18,000 in August 2025, while a glucometer spiked 41 per cent from N20,500 to N29,000.

For hypertension patients, prescriptions are no less costly. Metformin increased by 30 per cent, moving from N500 to N650, while amlodipine climbed 33 per cent, rising from N1,800 to N2,400. Exforge, another hypertension drug, soared 83 per cent from N32,800 to N60,000.

The situation is dire for malaria treatment as drug prices have nearly doubled. Coartem, a widely used antimalarial, jumped 124 per cent from N3,800 to N8,500, while Artesunate injection climbed 56 per cent from N1,600 to N2,500. The price of the Lokmal tablet rose from N1,200 last year to N2,450 now, which is a 104.2 per cent increase.

Only a handful of medicines became cheaper. Augmentin dropped by 24 per cent, from N18,500 in June 2024 to N14,000 in August 2025. The Ventolin inhaler also fell by 12 per cent, from N8,500 to N7,500.

Still, these are rare cases in a market dominated by rising drug prices. The ineffectiveness of fully operationalising the policy has left Nigerians with little respite from crippling medication costs.

Blame on policy

Stakeholders attribute the persistent drug price hikes to the non-implementation or slow roll-out of the executive order, coupled with Nigeria’s heavy reliance on imports, high foreign exchange rates, rising energy costs, and other structural inefficiencies in the healthcare supply chain.

Speaking with our correspondent, the National President of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Ambrose Ezeh, said the executive order has not been implemented.

“Have we implemented (the executive order)? If the order is not implemented, then the status quo remains. Even if they are implemented or not, most of the drugs, 75 per cent of the drugs that we use in this country, are imported.

“The foreign exchange is at a high rate. If the forex is reduced, they (drugs) would reduce. If they are importing the raw material, they are importing everything; energy is high, and other things are high. There is no way it will not affect the medicines that are being sold in the country, whether you are producing locally you are importing from outside. The executive order has not been implemented,” Ezeh stated.

Meanwhile, the ACPN chairman of the Federal Capital Territory, Olatunji Aloba, explained that while some level of implementation was already being felt in the pharmaceutical sector, the full effect was yet to be realised.

He noted that drug importation under the new policy was already showing signs of change, with prices of some medications beginning to decrease. However, he stressed that the impact was uneven, depending on the timing of importation and the type of drugs involved.

“There are some drugs that are coming down in prices. Some are actually crashing. But those that were already in circulation before the policy was declared still maintain their old prices. It is new transactions and new importations that are beginning to reflect the order,” he said.

According to him, the drugs currently experiencing price reductions are mostly prescription-only medicines and some supplements.

He added that availability played a role in these changes, adding that when certain drugs go out of stock and later return to the market, they often reflect the new pricing system.

“The pricing of drugs is mainly determined by how much we get them. If we get the drugs at reduced rates, the costs from the shelves would be reduced, but if we get them at high rates, the prices would reflect that we sell as well.

“Also, this is determined by forex and cost factors. If I get raw materials at N15,000 and end up producing at the same N15,000, I will still want to maximise profit. Prices will only begin to crash gradually when subsequent supplies reflect better margins,” he said.

Aloba emphasised that the implementation of the executive order was ongoing but remained a gradual process.

He, however, expressed hope that with time, competition and continued policy enforcement would force prices down.

“You can’t always win it all. But when competition comes in, people will be forced to cut prices. It is a gradual process, but eventually, things will fall into place,” he concluded.

Another Community Pharmacist in Abuja, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that drug prices had risen mainly because local production had declined, forcing manufacturers to rely on imported medications, which are affected by the dollar rate.

She also noted that high demand, especially during the rainy season, for drugs like anti-malarial medications, pushes prices up, often leading to stock shortages.

“Most manufacturers and distributors depend on imported medications. Most times, they claim that because of the dollar rate and all of that, it affects the prices of medication. Another factor influencing drug prices is the supply. Especially this rainy season, you have a lot of demand for anti-malarial because of mosquito infestation. The fact that a lot of people are looking for anti-malarial drugs influences the drug prices negatively,” she said.

Regarding the Federal Government’s executive order to reduce drug costs and boost local production, she believes it has largely been ineffective in practice.

“I still believe the executive order is just on paper. In reality, none of those things have been implemented. When they say there’s an executive order, in what way? How have they been able to issue that order to reduce drug costs or even boost local production? We have Nigerian companies, yet their drugs keep increasing in terms of price.

“To be honest, it’s just on paper. It hasn’t been fully reflected in today’s market,” she stated.

The President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Prof. Bala Audu, said patients and doctors alike were still burdened by high drug prices because the executive order on medicines had not been fully implemented.