Development of the National Policy and costed 5-year Strategic Plan for the Establishment of the Health Industrial Corporation of Nigeria (HICON)

Description of the Project:

The global COVID-19 pandemic has set the world back on many fronts, exposing weaknesses in the health systems and economies of countries, regions, and continents. Africa, for example, imports about 80% of its health products’ needs. The pandemic’s impact, such as travel and border restrictions and “self-first” protectionist policies, further highlighted the lack of self-sustenance within Africa’s health products space. Nigeria’s experience is similar, reinforcing the need for significant improvements in domestic manufacturing of health products to match local and potentially cross-border needs.

Strengthening Nigeria’s domestic manufacturing of health products would benefit both the health sector and the economy in general. This journey to self-sustenance is expected to contribute to improved health security, reduced health tourism, reduced forex losses, reduced per capita cost of healthcare, improved access to healthcare, improved health status of Nigerians, improved economy, and more. The proposed Health Industries Corporation of Nigeria (HICON) would be situated in FMITI’s Industrial Development Department (IDD), which oversees industrial activities within the national economy with a mission to ensure that the Nigerian industrial sector becomes the prime contributor to GDP through value addition, job creation, wealth generation, and support to sustainable livelihoods.

Having IDD host HICON within FMITI enables the emerging HICON to leverage the strengths and capabilities of the host institution. HICON, with the support of its base institution and a multiplicity of other stakeholders, is expected to mitigate the many challenges within the space while maximizing the opportunities therein.

The objectives of the project:

Provide technical support to the FMITI to develop the HICON policy. The support entails:

1. Identification, involvement, and management of stakeholders.
2. Support the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) to conduct a health industry landscape analysis, including financing.
3. Stakeholder engagement sessions across four geopolitical zones deliberately broadening input to the HICON policy development process.
4. Development of the final draft of the policy and resource mobilization framework
5. Stakeholder validation of the final policy document and the resource mobilization framework
6. Production of copies of the HICON policy document
7. Validation of the developed pharmaceutical manufacturing policy
8. Development of a 5-year Strategic Plan
9. Development of a costed 5-year strategic and 2-year operational plans
10. Development of a monitoring and evaluation framework and plan

Interventions: PGS is leading the implementation of all aspects of the project objectives, including data collection, cleaning, analysis, and presentation using both quantitative and qualitative methods. PGS is tapping into the relationships it has built over the years to convene key stakeholders from several ministries in Nigeria. PGS is also using its technical expertise to not only set up governance, management, and technical committees but to set them up for success by developing relevant terms of reference and providing technical support to help them perform their roles. PGS understands the need for consultative processes in the development of such policies and brings very sound technical expertise to ensure that the policies address the needs and aspirations of the country.

Related Activities: Regional consultative workshops, policy development, Strategic plan, Costing, Monitoring and Evaluation framework and plan,