Pharmacists, under the auspices of Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists have said their choice for Ebonyi State for the establishment of Salt City Pharma Park was hinged on availability of needed infrastructure and its discovery the state was destination for investments.
According to the professional group, beautiful land space, project’s site accessible and contiguous nature were other reasons why they choose Ebonyi State across the South-East Zone, for the pharmaceutical hub.
Chairman of Board of Salt City Pharma Park Development Company and immediate past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharmacist Sam Ohuabunwa disclosed this to journalists, on Thursday, after a meeting with Governor Francis Nwifuru, in Abakaliki.
He said, “We are here today in conjunction with the Board, our partners and investors to see Governor Nwifuru over the Salt City Pharma Park Development Company. The Salt City Pharma Park is an industrial hub, which is being established at Ntezi community in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
“During the tenure of the immediate past governor of the state, Engr David Umahi the Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists reached an agreement with the government in Joint understanding (or pact) to establish the project. We since have gone ahead after we received the Certificate of Occupancy to do the preliminary work of getting designs, drawings, layout and other geo-technical studies and, we got a 100-hectare park.
“However, since the new governor came we have never had an opportunity to meet with him to ensure that all of us are on the same page. This is why we are here today to meet with him and brief him on what we have done and to seek his continuous support; for him to give us additional comfort so that our investors who are going to come from all over the world will be comfortable. And secondly to ensure the government supports us so that the Park will be attractive to the investors and, also offer infrastructural incentives in order to make the Salt City Pharma Park an industrial destination in the pharmaceutical value-chain.
“We had a good discussion with the governor and we told him that this a good opportunity for him to be briefed. Eventually, he said the state will not only help us, but exceed our expectations and that the state will make everything faster than we expect. That was cheering for us. He equally said they have made their own covenant before us to ensure that nothing deters us. He observed the Park would create jobs for his people and bring the state to prominence as a destination for business.
He added, “And to be fair to you, we tried to look for opportunities in all the regions of the country (in the six geo-political zones). And to be sincere we saw a few places; and to be truthful, Ebonyi State was more proactive. The then governor, Umahi, was faster in responding to our need and been able to give us reasonable soft-landings. Infact, what he did was to take us to some parts of the town to choose where we wanted. He said there was a place he thought we would have chosen, instead of choosing Ntezi. The choice was neatness to the city of Enugu, which is the capital of the South-East zone and to an airport even before the Ebonyi airport came. These were the things that we considered-beautiful land space, which will be contiguous and accessible. But the then governor’s seriousness and responsiveness gave him an edge over the others at the time.
On whether the investment would thrive in Ebonyi State considering its location, size and business viability, the former Chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria said, “Well, the pharmaceutical terrain and trade do not respect geo-political boundaries just as my chairman spoke at the meeting with the governor. 70 per cent of the products we consume in Nigeria is manufactured outside Nigeria and they do come in. How much more the ones manufactured here in Nigeria? They will get to different parts of the country. That was why I said nearness to the airport and good road network so that we can move goods around. Goods can be manufactured anywhere, but logistics is what one needs to move them around.
“The important question should be: Is it of good quality? And is it of international standard? This is why the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and the Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists themselves are not business people. But they are the facilitors of this project that’s going to bring local and global pharmaceutical manufacturers, raw materials , engineering firms that make pharmaceutical machines, and other supporting groups to the Park. That’s the advantage of the project. In brief, the advantage of the Park is that you are going to have a common utility-you build one road, it will serve everybody. You provide water, it will serve everybody. You provide waste management, it will serve everybody. Nobody goes making his or her own investment to provide an utility, it’s cheaper at the pharmaceutical hub (Park). Then you can also leverage on each other-the distance between your supplier and your plant is close.
“On the exit of companies out of Nigeria, this is why I told the governor to create incentives. The whole world operates by incentives. The reason they are going is because someone (other countries) have offered them something better. And if you offer them something better than ‘better’, they will remain here. There will definitely be newer ones to come. You know people die, and new people are born. Others will come. The most important thing is to make your state more competitive to your target audience. And we believe that Ebonyi State is more hungry for investment.”
Also speaking, a member of the Board, Prof. Chimezie Anyakaora (representing Bloom Public Health) said the vision of the project was to create medium and high technological industrial park in the state.
He said, “I am excited about the progress made so far in advancing the Salt City Pharma Park project. The concept of the Pharma Park park is a compact modern-day pharmaceutical industrial estate that will house pharmaceutical companies of varying sizes, service providers, and companies providing support services to share workstations and infrastructure. The project is a laudable one as it will address the skyrocketed demand for medicines in Nigeria as well as medicines supply chain issues.”
