Leading experts in the health sector have warned that Nigeria’s dependence on imported medicines, weak research capacity, and poor local manufacturing infrastructure continue to undermine the country’s health security and capacity to respond to emerging health threats.
This is even as they have called for urgent investment in research, local drug production, and stronger multi-sector collaboration to protect public health and achieve self-reliance.
Professor John Oladapo Obafunwa, the director-general of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), at the 2025 Annual Conference of the Health Writers Association of Nigeria (HEWAN) in Lagos, said the country stands at a defining moment where the quality and credibility of scientific and health systems will determine the nation’s resilience against both infectious and non-communicable diseases.