Nigeria, Aug. 1 -- As one of Africa's largest pharmaceutical markets - trailing only South Africa by value, and among the continent's largest by population and consumption volume - Nigeria nonetheless leans heavily on imports to bridge a wide domestic supply gap, with roughly 70 per cent of medicines still sourced from overseas to meet its healthcare needs.

However, some local drug manufacturing companies, such as Fidson, May & Baker, and Mecure Industries, continue to overcome local manufacturing challenges to ensure local drug production and even export some of the locally produced drugs.

Yet, even the local drug manufacturing market is at the mercy of importation as it sources more than 90 per cent of its active pharmaceutical ingred...