The Alternative Bank is expanding financing for local pharmaceutical manufacturing in Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy seeks to reduce its heavy dependence on imported medicines and strengthen healthcare supply-chain resilience.
The move comes as African countries continue to confront vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when global supply disruptions highlighted the continent’s limited domestic pharmaceutical capacity. Africa accounts for roughly 25 percent of the global disease burden but imports nearly 97 percent of its pharmaceutical products, according to industry estimates.
Speaking in an interview with the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria for its maiden Pharma Industry Digest, Dr. Jekwu Ozoemene, Group Executive at The Alternative Bank, said pharmaceutical sovereignty has become a strategic priority for Nigeria.
“Pharma and medicine security and sovereignty is essential to Nigeria’s survival,” Ozoemene said, adding that the bank is prepared to partner with stakeholders across the healthcare value chain to accelerate local production.
The Alternative Bank, a licensed non-interest financial institution, said it is deploying asset-backed and risk-sharing financing structures aimed at supporting pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and healthcare supply chains. Unlike traditional lending models, the financing framework aligns repayments with business cash flows to encourage long-term industrial growth.
The bank has introduced healthcare-focused financial products including stock financing, vendor and distributor financing, supply-chain funding, and revolving drug funds. It is also supporting healthcare infrastructure through partnerships tied to health insurance schemes, health management information systems, capital market access, and Banking-as-a-Service platforms.
Industry analysts say Nigeria’s push for local pharmaceutical manufacturing could reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves by cutting reliance on imported medicines while also creating jobs across research, manufacturing, logistics, and retail distribution.
Ozoemene said the bank intends to support industrial pharmacists building World Health Organization-compliant manufacturing plants and researchers developing treatments tailored to Nigeria’s healthcare realities, including malaria and hypertension therapies designed for local populations.
“We don’t only want to finance the company that imports the most products,” he said. “We want to finance the industrial pharmacist establishing a WHO-compliant manufacturing plant to produce essential medicines locally.”
The initiative aligns with broader efforts by Nigeria and other African economies to deepen domestic healthcare manufacturing capacity amid rising global concerns over medicine security, supply-chain disruptions, and access to affordable drugs.