Oyintiloye Urges Tinubu to Enforce Executive Order on Drug Price Reduction

President Bola Tinubu has been urged to ensure the full enforcement of the executive order on reducing the prices of essential medical consumables and equipment in Nigeria. The call was made by Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, during a media briefing on Sunday in Osogbo.

Oyintiloye noted that despite the President’s executive order issued in June 2024 to ease the financial burden on patients, the prices of many life-saving drugs remain unreasonably high. The order had introduced zero tariffs, excise duties, and VAT on specified machinery, equipment, and raw materials, with the aim of cutting production costs and boosting local manufacturers’ competitiveness. However, he lamented that the expected relief is yet to be felt.

He recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service announced on March 26, 2025, that it had begun implementing the directive, but drug prices continue to soar. According to him, critical medications such as insulin, Metformin, and Exforge are still sold at very high prices, though slight reductions have been observed in medicines like Augmentin and Ventolin inhalers.

The APC chieftain appealed to the President to ensure strict enforcement of the order, stressing that many Nigerians are struggling to cope with rising drug costs. “I want to appeal to the President to see to the implementation of his executive order on drug prices for the benefit of Nigerians. There is no doubt that the President is doing everything within his power to provide quality healthcare delivery, and I am optimistic he will address this,” he said.

Oyintiloye also commended the President for subsidising the cost of kidney dialysis in federal hospitals nationwide, describing it as a major relief for patients. He explained that reducing the average cost of a dialysis session from about ₦50,000 to ₦12,000 would ease the financial pressure on thousands of Nigerians battling kidney disease.

He described the subsidy as proof of President Tinubu’s commitment to quality healthcare delivery and urged Nigerians to support the administration beyond its current tenure. “The President must be commended for this gesture. It shows that he is a man passionate about the well-being of Nigerians,” Oyintiloye said.