General Information & Market Scale
Nigeria's dominant position in Africa as the most populous and with one of the largest and fastest growing economies in Africa, coupled with its high incidence of diseases makes the country a vibrant pharmaceutical market. The Federal Bureau of Statistics puts Nigeria's official population at 140 million with an average annual growth rate of 3% p.a. emphasizing the country's high demand for adequate and efficient healthcare at all levels[1]. McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimated that eight million households had incomes of more than USD7,500 per year – MGI’s threshold for “emerging consumers”, whose income are enough to meet their basic needs and have money left to start buying more and better food, education and health services. An estimated 35 million could be living above this threshold by 2030. It is estimated that consumption of healthcare goods in Nigeria will grow by a CAGR of 16.2% from USD9 billion in 2013 to USD111 in 2030.

ithin the ECOWAS market a vibrant, if nascent, pharmaceutical sector is emerging. Over 250 plants are registered in the region – most of which are concentrated in Ghana and Nigeria[1]. Nigeria is one of the most concentrated countries of manufacturing pharmaceutical industry which alone has over 200 registered manufacturers. Plant capacity utilization, however, remains low and represents a huge opportunity if larger markets can be fostered. In Nigeria, utilization is about 40%, meaning that there is a potentially large volume of underutilized manufacturing capacity which, if quality-assured, could produce new products upon demand, for example for export (compare Figure 3 with Figure 4)[2].

[1] UNAIDS, Leveraging the AIDS Response for Pharmaceutical Security in West Africa: Sourcing Sustainable African Solutions, UNAIDS Issues Brief, 2012, p.2.

[2] Ibid. p.8.