Fidson Looks to Better Policy to Continue Expansion

Having set up a N9 billion drug plants in Ogun State, Fidson is looking to the federal government support in the form of policy consistency to continue expansion.

Speaking at a familiarisation tour of Fidson’s facility by Ogbonnaya Onu, Nigeria’s minister of science and technology, Fidson’s sales and marketing director, Olugbenga Olayeye expressed confidence that government’s support could go a long way to boost the company’s capacity for local pharmaceutical manufacturing, which will in turn transform the country’s pharmaceutical industry and the economy.

Fidson operations director, Abiola Adebayo, highlighted the benefits of the factory to include high quality and affordable healthcare products, world-class pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, employment generation, increased local content, generation of stronger partnerships, as well as strategic brand and market positioning.

Adebayo urged the minister to help advocate for the enactment or review of policies that will address the plights of local pharmaceutical manufacturers by the federal government.

These, he said, would go a long way to ensure more regular supply of drugs, further enhance response to health emergencies and ultimately save more lives of Nigerians.

He further emphasised that present position of the country’s pharmaceutical manufacturing business required such transformational investment as the new Fidson factory, to meet future healthcare demands of Nigerians.

He noted that with adequate support from the government, Nigeria’s pharma industry will be self-sustaining and ultimately stand a chance of being launched into global reckoning and attracting foreign investors.

Responding, Onu urged Fidson to target a dominant position in the African pharmaceutical manufacturing landscape and ultimately compete for global reckoning.

The minister observed the leading pharmaceutical company’s contribution to national economic development, adding that the company must not rest on its oars until it becomes a leading pharmaceutical company in Africa and ultimately the world.

“I am happy to be in a pharmaceutical company that has done significantly well to the development of Nigeria. This is the first pharmaceutical company I will be visiting as a minister. I am so proud of what I have seen and I will be delighted to read in another fifteen to twenty years that Fidson is the best in the world” he said.

Onu stressed that the Federal Government is concerned with the development of the country through diversification of the revenue base, and is charting a new course by ensuring that raw materials produced locally are utilised in the production processes with the intervention of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) and that purchase of made in Nigeria product is encouraged amongst Nigerians.

Fidson equity price has risen by 13.31 per cent in the past 1 month, closing at N3.15 on Friday at The Nigerian Stock Exchange to put its value at N4.73 billion.

Culled from BusinessDay