National Bureau of Statistics’ foreign trade reports has indicated that Nigeria had spent N205.38bn in the importation of medications within nine months.
The analysis of the first quarter to the third quarter of the reports indicated that the medications were imported between January and September 2022.
According to the reports, the majority of the drugs were bought from the Netherlands, Malaysia, China, and India.
The majority of the drugs were imported during the second quarter, followed by the first and third quarters.
Pharmaceuticals cost N63.01 billion to import into Nigeria in the first quarter (January to March), primarily from the Netherlands (N22.32 billion), India (N18.77 billion), China (N8.63 billion), and France (N2.33bn).
However, the second quarter’s (April to June) N93.63 billion worth of medicine imports increased. For the quarter, Malaysia ($46.51 billion), India ($26.02 billion), China ($10.02 billion), Germany ($2.06 billion), and France (N1.3bn) were the top five countries from which pharmaceuticals were imported.
According to the reports, pharmaceuticals worth N48.7 billion were brought into Nigeria during the third quarter (July to September).
Premium Motor Spirit, which cost N1.2 trillion, was the most expensive import, followed by gas oil (N261.6 billion) and durum wheat (N252.6 billion), per the report.
The data showed that China, the Netherlands, India, Belgium, the United States, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Norway were Nigeria’s top 10 import trading partners for the quarter, even though it was unclear where the majority of Nigeria’s medicines were imported from.
