6 Buhari sets up panel on drug prices
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday directed the setting up of an interministerial committee to find how medicines and livestock drugs can be made available to the Nigerian public at reduced prices.
Receiving the executive board members of a pharmaceutical company, Graham Foggs Ltd at State House, Abuja, he reiterated his The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is to divert all flight operations from the “D” Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos to the “E” Wing of the airport today.
FAAN made the announcement in a statement signed by its General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Henrietta Yakubu in Lagos yesterday.
According to the statement, the diversion is due to routine maintenance schedule at MMIA.
“FAAN hereby notifies airlines, passengers and the general public that between 10 a.m. and noon on Nov. 24, we will embark on a routine maintenance at the D Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
“Consequently, all flight operations at the Wing will be diverted to E Wing while the maintenance work would last,” the statement said. (NAN) Fire yesterday razed over 100 shops in the popular Funtua General Hospital Market in Katsina metropolis.
The cause of the fire was unknown at the time of filling this report. It started at about 7.30 pm and lasted almost two hours, damaging property worth millions of naira.
Witnesses said fire officers and sympathisers intervened to put it out.
Shop owners and traders were busy trying to savage what they could from their shops as the fire burned. No life was lost. The state emergency management agency said it was yet to be briefed on the incident. The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has increased its annual donation to the Armed Forces Remembrance Day appeal fund by 40 per cent to further assist families of the nation’s fallen heroes.
The Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja when he was decorated with the 2019 emblem by the leader of a delegation from the Ministry of Defence, Major Isa Abdulhamid Jawondo, in a ceremony in his office.
Malam Bello said approval had been given for the release of the fund and pledged the continued commitment to the improvement of the quality of lives of Nigerians.
The president in a statement by his Spokesperson, Femi Adesina charged the Ministers of Health as well as Agriculture and Rural Development to work with the company, short-circuit disruptive bureaucracy and brief him from time to time.
The company, led by Chief Sam Nda-Isaiah, seeks to make essential medicines and livestock support of the FCTA for activities to assist families of fallen heroes.
The minister acknowledged the good work of the Nigerian legion, stressing that the sacrifices of the nation’s fallen heroes would not be in vain.
The leader of the delegation and Secretary, National Planning Committee of the 2019-Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations, Major Jawondo, said the emblem appeal fund 2019 was launched in October 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari, with a call for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to donate generously to the fund to assist families of fallen heroes. drugs available to the public at significantly reduced prices.
“It has been established that 70% of Nigerians cannot afford modern medicines produced by multinational pharmaceutical companies due to their high prices,” Nda-Isaiah said, adding that most of the companies operate at less than 30% of installed capacity
Graham Foggs Ltd plans to bring down the prices of most of the commonly used medicines by up to 60%, producing only generic medicines as against patented ones.
“This would be achieved without a single kobo subsidy from government, with Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) or bulk raw materials imported from China and India for the approved local production companies in Nigeria,” Nda-Isaiah said.
He noted that the finished products would be sold at fixed prices to achieve the objectives of the programme, adding that millions of jobs would be created across the country as pharmaceutical plants would be operating at nearmaximum capacity and this would be for medicines of all classes including livestock drugs to boost the agricultural sector.
It would be recalled that President Buhari had earlier reduced tariff on pharmaceutical raw materials and increased the one for finished imported products.
FAAN to divert Lagos airport flights today Fire guts Funtua market Minister pledges support for families of fallen heroes