…As Bloom commences capacity building for manufacturers
By Doris Obinna
The Chief Executive Officer, Bloom Public Health, Prof. Chimezie Anyakora has said that the Impact Project will inspire quality in local manufacturing in the country.
Anyakora disclosed this in Lagos at the commencement of a 3-day training workshop tagged: “Nigerian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Improvement and Capacity Building.”
The 3-day training, organised by Bloom Public Health is in conjunction with the Federal Government, the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the World Bank.
The workshop, is in furtherance of Bloom Public Health commitment towards repositioning the Nigerian pharma industry as an independent and significant player in the global space.
The event, which is one in a series of programmes tagged: “Impact Project,” continues tomorrow May 21 and Thursday, May 22, 2023.
It features lectures and presentations from experts in the relevant aspects of pharmaceutical manufacturing such as regulation, production and quality assurance and control.
In his presentation titled: “Trends in Global GMP Compliance,” Technical Director, Bloom Public Health, 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.
Also, in his presentation titled: “Building Quality Culture in the Pharmaceutical Industry,” Dr Onyenoha Chukwumeriji, an international 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.
While calling on the chief executives of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies to imbibe such core values that instigate the pursuit of excellence and quality assurance, he added that it wil help them remain relevant and competitive in the international marketplace.
Earlier in his welcome address, Anyakora, said the workshop is aimed at supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria to improve their standards and quality control systems.
He 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, 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.”
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.”
