There is no doubt that the Federal Government meant well for many Nigerians when President Bola Tinubu signed an Executive Order in 2024 suspending tariffs, excise duties and Value Added Tax (VAT) on pharmaceutical machinery and raw materials. The aim is to reduce the cost of drugs and thereby improve basic healthcare delivery. However, it should worry the government that almost two years down the line, the order is not yielding the envisioned result, as medication prices continue to soar while millions of Nigerians are unable to buy medicines needed for the treatment of their ailments. The question begging for an answer is whether the order is being implemented, or if the implementation is weak and therefore ineffective.
There is no doubt that the objective of the presidential order is to ease the financial burden on pharmaceutical companies, which should translate into a reduction in the prices of drugs for consumers. Achieving this objective requires a holistic approach to addressing the factors pushing up prices. What the government has been doing appears restricted to a few causes of the challenge, mainly the cost of raw materials and machinery, which the executive order is meant to reduce. But the order is also being seriously undermined by worsening inflation, persistent forex instability and some structural failures within the country’s healthcare and economic systems, as well as a lack of stable electricity supply, among others.
The sad narrative now is that poor Nigerians, whom the executive order is mainly meant to protect, have continued to suffer, even die from treatable diseases, due to a lack of financial capacity to procure the needed drugs that are becoming very expensive. The situation is tougher for those who have chronic diseases. They are distressed by the painful fact that they cannot say how much longer they can survive, as the very medicines that keep them alive are slipping further out of reach.
The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states unambiguously that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. By implication, nothing should take precedence over the security and welfare of Nigerians.
Healthcare is crucial in ensuring the citizens’ welfare. Therefore, the executive order must be implemented in a way that the objective is realised. All bottlenecks must be removed. Already, most Nigerians have been suffering hardship due to the high cost of living caused by government policies and bad governance over the decades. No Nigerian should die due to the inability to buy medicines for the treatment of their diseases.
On June 28, 2024, the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, announced on X (formerly Twitter) that President Tinubu had signed an executive order aimed at increasing local production of healthcare products. According to Pate, the order introduced zero tariffs, excise duties and VAT on specified machinery, equipment and raw materials to reduce the cost of production and enhance the competitiveness of local drug manufacturers.
The minister listed the specified items as active pharmaceutical ingredients, excipients, and other essential raw materials for the manufacturing of some crucial health products like drugs, syringes and needles, long-lasting insecticide nets and rapid diagnostic kits.
In terms of implementation, the executive order mandates collaboration among Ministers of Finance, Health, and Industry, Trade and Investment to develop a harmonised framework and expedite regulatory approvals and reduce bottlenecks. Some Federal Government agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), are to ensure swift implementation of the order with specified waivers and exceptions effective for two years. On March 26, 2025, about nine months after the executive order was signed, the NCS announced that it had commenced the implementation following approval of the comprehensive guidelines by President Tinubu, through the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun.
Since the commencement of implementation by the NCS, Nigerians have been expecting the prices of drugs to dip, but the story has been one of disappointment. Media reports indicate an alarming surge in the prices of drugs. Between June 2024, when President Tinubu signed the order and August 2025, the prices of some drugs, particularly life-saving ones, have increased by 30 per cent to 100 per cent, making chronic disease patients the worst hit. Among the affected drugs are insulin the price of which rose from N14,000 in 2024 to N18,000 in August 2025; glucometer from N20,500 to N29,000; metformin used by hypertension patients from N500 to N650; amlodipine from N1800 to N2400; Exforge, also for hypertension, from N32,800 to N60,000; widely used anti-malaria drug, Coartem, from N3,800 to N8,500; Artesunate injection from N1,600 to N2,500; and Lokmal tablet from N1,200 to N2,450. Although the prices of a few drugs, including Augmentin, reduced from N18,400 in 2024 to N14,000 in August 2025, and Ventolin inhaler from N8,500 to N7,500, most drugs in the country have soared beyond what millions of Nigerians can afford.
The belief in some quarters is that implementation of the executive order has not started, contrary to the claim by the Nigeria Customs Service, while there are those who say the implementation has started, but it has not taken full effect.
If it is true that the executive order is yet to be carried out, President Tinubu needs to direct its immediate implementation. It should be an embarrassment that such a presidential directive meant to save the lives of millions of citizens who are being threatened by a lack of financial capacity to procure expensive drugs would take almost a year before some officials would consider it worthy of implementation. A lot of people have remained in sick beds, while others are dying daily for lack of money to buy drugs needed for the treatment of their ailments.
And if the implementation has started and has not taken full effect, Tinubu should order its immediate review with a view to unravelling the reason the waivers are not translating into lower drug prices as envisioned. All identified bottlenecks should be removed and other things that need to be done should be given adequate attention for the executive order to achieve the objectives.
Nigeria is abundantly blessed with human and natural resources that should make the people live their dreamed life supported by robust and consistent government welfare programmes. Nigerians do not deserve to die for not being able to purchase medicines to take care of their health conditions. The executive order should be made to work.
