NAFDAC Seeks Global Partners for Local Vaccine Production

The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has solicited the support of international partners to establish vaccine manufacturing facilities in Nigeria, saying that opening vaccine manufacturing companies will hasten the agency’s push to attain World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level 4 for vaccine lot release.

Adeyeye made the call at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo in Lagos, jointly organised by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) and PGE Expo Pvt Ltd. In a statement signed by NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Sanyo Akintola, the DG acknowledged the continued support of international partners in NAFDAC’s attainment of Maturity Level 3, and challenged them to contribute to fill-and-finish modular vaccine manufacturing. According to Adeyeye, NAFDAC has nine functions to meet for full benchmarking for medicines and vaccines, but has only been benchmarked in eight, with lot release for vaccines outstanding.

“We want to call on our international partners that have been of tremendous help. Without them we wouldn’t have been here. I want to challenge them to contribute to fill and finish modular vaccine manufacturing so that we can get our vaccine lot release,” she said. Adeyeye said Nigeria has what it takes to attain the level except local vaccine manufacturing, adding that the cost has been estimated and will not be too high. “We cannot afford to go back to where we used to be,” she said. Recalling that Nigeria used to manufacture vaccines, Adeyeye said it is time to return to local production. She commended President Bola Tinubu for the Executive Order 2024, describing it as game-changing and bringing life to NAFDAC’s clamour for incentives for local manufacturers operating under harsh conditions. “I was championing incentives for the manufacturers until President Tinubu came on board with the Executive Order of 2024,” she said, noting that both the Coordinating Minister of Health and Minister of State bought into the rationale leading to unlocking the healthcare value chain.

She said NAFDAC’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Roadmap audit of over 165 companies, funded by USAID and executed by United States Pharmacopeia, led to improved quality and a 70 per cent decrease in import of products under the ‘5 plus 5’ and Ceiling Initiatives between 2021 and 2025. She also said that NAFDAC became a member of the International Medical Device Forum in 2023, while its Yaba laboratory became WHO pre-qualified in September 2023, and it became the first agency in sub-Saharan Africa to be successfully re-benchmarked for Maturity Level 3.

In his remarks, Chairman of PMG-MAN, Mr. Oluwatosin Jolayemi, described the expo as the only complete pharma manufacturing platform in Central and West Africa and commended Adeyeye for driving international best practices. He called for the extension of the presidential executive order by two years at expiration in March 2027, saying medicine security requires policy consistency. No fewer than 132 companies from the US, China, Argentina, Egypt, India, Rwanda, Austria, UAE, France, Germany, Indonesia and Nigeria participated in the two-day expo.

The call for foreign partnership comes at a critical juncture for Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector, which has historically relied heavily on imported vaccines and medicines. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of this dependence, prompting renewed emphasis on building domestic manufacturing capacity. NAFDAC’s attainment of Maturity Level 3 was a significant milestone, signalling that the agency’s regulatory systems meet international standards for medicines and vaccines. However, the absence of vaccine lot release capabilities means that Nigeria cannot yet locally release vaccine batches without external validation, a gap that local manufacturing would close.

The establishment of fill-and-finish vaccine facilities would enable Nigeria to produce, test, and release vaccines domestically, reducing reliance on imports and improving the country’s ability to respond to future health emergencies. For local manufacturers, the incentives unlocked by the Executive Order 2024 have already begun to transform the operating environment, making it more viable to invest in production capacity. As the expo demonstrated, interest from international partners remains strong, but translating that interest into concrete investment will require sustained policy support and a clear regulatory pathway.

With the Executive Order set to expire in March 2027, stakeholders are urging the government to extend it to ensure continuity and give manufacturers the confidence to make long-term investments. For NAFDAC, the goal is clear: achieve Maturity Level 4 and ensure that Nigeria can produce, regulate, and release its own vaccines, securing the nation’s health sovereignty for generations to come.