Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, has urged Nigerians to embrace locally produced herbal medicines and reduce what it described as an excessive dependence on foreign alternatives, presenting three pharmaceutical products developed by the institution at a two-day business summit organised in collaboration with pharmaceutical marketers.
The three products presented at the AB Pharmaceuticals Business Summit in Ado Ekiti on Saturday were AB Mal, an anti-malarial capsule; ABUAD Virucidine, an immune system booster syrup; and AB Health Animation 250mg. The summit was convened to establish a marketing plan that would take the products to the Nigerian people and expand their reach across the country. The Deputy Director of AB Pharmaceutical Services, Oluwatoyin Afolabi, said Nigeria’s continued reliance on foreign herbal products, despite the country’s indigenous medicinal resources and growing research capacity, amounted to a form of economic and medical dependence that must be urgently addressed. “We have served the Indians enough, and we have served the Chinese enough,” Afolabi said. “We have embraced different forms of multilevel marketing and imported their traditional medicines, while Nigerians continue to work hard to promote these foreign products. It is time for a revolution, and a revolution does not necessarily require a crowd. Sometimes, it takes one determined individual to change the world.”
Afolabi said the initiative was driven by the vision of the university’s founder, Aare Afe Babalola, to ensure that Nigerians could increasingly rely on medicines developed and produced within the country. She said the objective was not primarily commercial profit but a broader commitment to national self-reliance in pharmaceutical production. “The aim of Aare Afe Babalola in developing ABUAD pharmaceutical products is not money,” she said. “His vision is for Nigeria to begin treating its people with medicines produced locally. Before the advent of orthodox doctors, our people relied on traditional medicines, including those derived from local resources, and these medicines served them. However, we have yet to embrace our own products with the same enthusiasm with which we promote Chinese medicines and other foreign alternatives.” She said the volume of imported medicines entering Nigeria daily was enormous and that a significant portion of the country’s economic resources went into purchasing foreign products. “We must begin to reverse this trend by investing in, producing and marketing medicines developed in Nigeria,” she said.
The Vice-Chancellor of ABUAD, Professor Smaranda Olarinde, stressed the need to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported pharmaceutical products, saying the country should create an ecosystem in which universities, industry, regulators, healthcare professionals, investors and consumers worked together to move promising innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace. She said collaboration was essential to strengthen local pharmaceutical production and ensure that Nigerian research translated into commercially viable products. The Chairman of the Association of Pharmaceutical Products Marketers of Nigeria, Ekiti State chapter, Peter Ajayi, commended Babalola for his vision across various fields and pledged the association’s support for efforts to promote the products and ensure they reached prospective consumers. The summit brought together pharmaceutical marketers, university officials and other stakeholders to discuss strategies for expanding the distribution and acceptance of the products.
The unveiling is not the first time ABUAD has presented locally developed pharmaceutical products. In October 2024, the university announced the commencement of production of three plant-based drugs, including Virucidine, Natucadine, an anti-aging herbal supplement, and AB-Mal, the anti-malaria capsule. The products have been developed through the university’s research and production capacity and are being positioned as alternatives to imported herbal medicines from countries such as China and India, which have historically dominated Nigeria’s traditional medicine market. The summit was therefore a continuation of the university’s efforts to commercialise its research output and build partnerships with marketers who can distribute the products nationwide.
The push for local production of herbal medicines comes amid a broader national conversation about the need to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported pharmaceutical products, which consumes substantial foreign exchange and limits the growth of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. Nigeria’s pharmaceutical market remains heavily reliant on imports, with a significant proportion of medicines, including herbal products, sourced from abroad. The government has prioritised local production as part of its economic diversification agenda, and the Tinubu administration has introduced policies aimed at supporting domestic manufacturers, including the Nigeria First Policy, which mandates government agencies to procure locally assembled vehicles and encourages the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products.
The political context of the initiative is significant. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. Health and education have emerged as key issues in the campaign, and the government has pointed to investments in local production, healthcare infrastructure and human capital development as evidence of its commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on state governments to prioritise health and education spending, and the Federal Government has announced reforms aimed at strengthening the pharmaceutical sector, including the release of the Consolidated Academic and Non-Academic Staff Tertiary Institutions Allowances and investments in medical research and training. ABUAD’s initiative aligns with that agenda by demonstrating that Nigerian universities can serve as engines of innovation and production, not merely centres of teaching and learning.
For the people of Ekiti State and Nigeria as a whole, the unveiling of the three products represents both a practical option for affordable healthcare and a statement of confidence in local capacity. Afolabi said the revolution would not require a crowd, and the summit demonstrated that it would not require a crowd of consumers to make a difference, but a network of marketers, health professionals and advocates committed to changing attitudes towards locally produced medicines. The coming months will determine whether the partnerships forged at the summit translate into widespread distribution and acceptance of the products, and whether the call to end the country’s dependence on imported herbal medicines is heeded by the very Nigerians the university is seeking to serve.
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