…As Anyakora advocates impactful projects
From John Silas
In furtherance of its commitment towards repositioning the Nigerian pharma industry as an independent and significant player in the global space, Bloom Public Health in conjunction with the Federal Government of Nigeria, the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the World Bank, has begun a 3-day training workshop tagged Nigerian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Improvement and Capacity Building. The event, which is one in a series of programmes termed the “Impact Project”, holds from Tuesday May 20 to Thursday May 22, 2023 at The Colossus Hotel, Lagos, will feature lectures and presentations from experts in the relevant aspects of pharmaceutical manufacturing such as regulation, production and quality assurance and control.Day One witnessed insightful presentations from facilitators. In his presentation titled “Trends in Global GMP Compliance”, Bloom Public Health’s Technical Director, Mr Hakeem Oshiyemi, enlightened participants on the core and cardinal components that ensure good manufacturing practice in the local manufacturing landscape. He enumerated strategies that minimize risks involved in pharmaceutical production and urged pharmaceutical manufactures to embrace best practices in order to compete globally.During his presentation titled “Building Quality Culture in the Pharmaceutical Industry”, Dr Onyenoha Chukwumeriji, an international GMP/GDP/QA/QC consultant, highlighted the connection between quality culture and optimum performance in the pharmaceutical industry. He emphasized the significance and quality of a pharmaceutical company’s corporate culture to its image and level of success. He enumerated factors such as employee-employer relations, ergonomics and succession plan as some of the basics that can swing the pendulum of a pharmaceutical company’s growth either forward or backwards. He called on Chief Executives of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies to imbibe such core values that instigate the pursuit of excellence and quality assurance, if they really want to remain relevant and competitive in the international marketplace.Speaking earlier during his welcome address, CEO of Bloom Public Health, Prof. Chimezie Anyakora, said the workshop is aimed at supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria to improve their standards and quality control systems. Anyakora bemoaned the beggarly disposition of Nigeria in terms of the type of aid it gets from the international community. According to him, instead of supporting with funds, most of the aids come in the form of medicines which may not have the desired impact, hence the need for the country to chart a new and nobler course towards its own independence in terms of manufacturing capacity. To this end, he said, relevant players in the Nigerian pharma space, including the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), NPRD, PMG-MAN and others are collaborating to make the attainment of this independence a reality.“In summary, Impact Project is here to help Nigeria attain quality and start competing globally. Year in, year out, a lot of funding that gets to the country come as medicine aid not as monetary funding to Nigerian manufacturers. One way to discontinue this ugly trend is to build our people and change the beggarly narrative”, he said.On how this project affects Nigeria’s global rating in terms medicines regulation, Anyakora said: “Once the regulator ups his game, it then means that the regulated must also push their game up. Right now, our regulator is at maturity level 3 (ML3). This means that what they would demand from manufacturers would be much more than what they used to demand. So, the manufacturer has to wake up. And I strongly believe that the Impact Project, beginning with this capacity building workshop, will be the stinging fly that would wake the slumbering giant of Africa from sleep unto continental and perhaps, global glory in pharma manufacturing.”
