Nigeria may need to deepen efforts to develop local vaccine manufacturing if it wants to reduce its dependence on imported vaccines and strengthen its ability to respond to future public-health emergencies.

Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has called on international development partners to support Nigeria’s plans to establish vaccine manufacturing facilities, particularly a fill-and-finish modular plant.

Adeyeye made the appeal in Lagos while discussing the country’s pharmaceutical manufacturing ambitions and the steps required to strengthen Nigeria’s regulatory system.

She said local vaccine production and the ability to regulate vaccine lot release remain important gaps in Nigeria’s effort to reach the next level of regulatory maturity and position the country for greater participation in vaccine manufacturing.

NAFDAC has previously identified vaccine lot release as one of its priorities in the agency’s efforts to advance its regulatory capacity. The agency has also said it is operating at WHO Maturity Level 3 and has been working towards achieving higher levels of international regulatory recognition.

The World Health Organisation explains that a functional national regulatory authority is essential for vaccine prequalification and that such authorities are expected to operate systems for vaccine lot release, maintain national control laboratory capacity and oversee vaccine manufacturing sites.

Adeyeye said Nigeria already has technical capacity that could support the development of local vaccine manufacturing, but additional infrastructure and investment would be required to complete the process.

She appealed to international partners that have supported Nigeria’s regulatory and health-sector development to continue assisting the country as it works towards establishing a local vaccine manufacturing base.

The push is significant because Nigeria currently has registered vaccines manufactured both locally and abroad. NAFDAC’s product database, for instance, lists vaccines supplied by Biovaccines Nigeria Ltd, while several other registered vaccines are manufactured in countries including India and Belgium.

A stronger domestic manufacturing base would potentially give Nigeria greater control over parts of the vaccine supply chain while also creating opportunities for technology transfer, skills development and pharmaceutical investment.

The renewed focus on vaccine production is also part of a wider government effort to expand local pharmaceutical manufacturing. In September, NAFDAC said the number of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria had increased from 174 to 190, while imports of medicines covered by its “5 Plus 5” and Ceiling List policies had fallen by 70 per cent.

The 70 per cent figure, however, relates to products covered by those specific import-restriction policies and should not be interpreted as a 70 per cent reduction in all pharmaceutical imports into Nigeria. NAFDAC has separately reported that the ratio of imported to locally manufactured pharmaceutical products moved from about 70:30 in 2019 to 50:50 in 2025.

NAFDAC has attributed the changes partly to policies designed to encourage domestic manufacturing, including the 5 Plus 5 initiative and the Ceiling List, which restrict imports of selected medicines where sufficient local manufacturing capacity exists.

The agency has also reported continued expansion of manufacturing capacity. As of June 2026, NAFDAC said it had reviewed and approved layouts for 176 pharmaceutical companies, including both existing and new facilities, while several manufacturers were undertaking construction or upgrades.

The Federal Government has similarly identified local production of medicines, vaccines, biologics and medical devices as a key part of its healthcare value-chain strategy. The Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain says increasing domestic manufacturing is intended to reduce import dependence and strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare resilience.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, reiterated that position at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo in Lagos on September 28, saying the disruptions experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated the importance of stronger domestic capacity to produce medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and other critical health technologies.

The pharmaceutical industry is also seeking policy continuity. PMG-MAN Chairman Oluwatosin Jolayemi has called for the continuation of federal incentives supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing, arguing that medicine security requires sustained investment, capacity development and a predictable business environment rather than short-term interventions.

The call was made around the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo, which brought together manufacturers, regulators, investors, development partners and other stakeholders to discuss the future of pharmaceutical production in Nigeria. Industry groups have set an ambition of reaching 70 per cent local production of medicines.

For Nigeria, the vaccine question is particularly important because manufacturing is only one part of the wider system. A sustainable domestic vaccine industry would also require strong regulation, quality-control laboratories, skilled personnel, reliable infrastructure, financing and a market capable of supporting production at the required standards.

WHO's vaccine prequalification framework similarly places strong emphasis on regulatory oversight, manufacturing quality, national control laboratories and effective lot-release systems before vaccines can qualify for international procurement channels.

As Nigeria seeks to strengthen its pharmaceutical industry, the development of vaccine manufacturing could therefore become an important test of how far the country can move from dependence on imported health products towards a more resilient domestic healthcare supply chain.

Reporting by TalkNaijaMedia