By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists has chosen Ebonyi State for the establishment of Salt City Pharmaceutical Park.

The association said the choice of Ebonyi State was hinged on the availability of necessary infrastructure. According to the professional group, beautiful land space, the project's site's accessibility and its contiguous nature were other reasons why they chose Ebonyi State across the South East Zone for the pharmaceutical hub.

The chairman of the Board of Salt City Pharmaceutical Park Development Company and immediate past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, 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 that is being established in the Ntezi community in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

“During the tenure of the immediate past governor of the state, David Umahi, the Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists reached an agreement with the government in a joint understanding (or pact) to establish the project.

“We have since gone ahead after we received the Certificate of Occupancy to do the preliminary work of getting designs, drawings, layout and other geotechnical 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, brief him on what we have done and seek his continuous support, for him to give us additional comfort so that our investors, who are coming from all over the world, will be comfortable.

“And secondly, to ensure the government supports us so that the park will be attractive to investors and, also offer infrastructural incentives 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 was 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.”

On whether the investment would thrive in Ebonyi State considering its location, size and business viability, Ohuabunwa, former Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, said: “Seventy 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 a 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.

“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, and it will serve everybody. If you provide water, it will serve everybody. If you provide waste management, it will serve everybody. Nobody makes his or her own investment to provide a utility; it's cheaper at the pharmaceutical hub (Park). Then you can also leverage 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 on incentives. The reason they are going is because someone (other countries) has 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, Professor Chimezie Anyakaora (representing Bloom Public Health), said the vision of the project was to create a medium- and high-tech industrial park in the state.

“The project is a laudable one as it will address the skyrocketed demand for medicines in Nigeria as well as medicines supply chain issues,” he said.

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