MOGO Media Academy partners NEXT Campus

MOGO Media Academy has partnered with NEXT Campus to offer the BA (Hons) Digital Media degree awarded by London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom, providing Sri Lankan students with access to an internationally recognised qualification combining British higher education with practical, industry-focused creative learning.

The strategic partnership brings together NEXT Campus’s academic collaboration with London Metropolitan University and MOGO Media Academy’s expertise in digital media, design, content creation and emerging creative technologies. The collaboration is aimed at developing graduates with the creative, technical and professional skills required to succeed in Sri Lanka’s growing digital economy and the wider global creative industry.

NEXT Campus is a recognised Sri Lankan academic partner of London Metropolitan University and delivers franchised British qualifications at bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. The partnership further expands its portfolio of internationally recognised programs while responding to growing demand for education aligned with emerging industries and changing employment opportunities.

The BA (Hons) Digital Media degree is designed to combine academic knowledge with practical application, equipping students with skills across digital production, creative development, technology, marketing and project management. Students will explore areas including digital imaging, animation, three-dimensional modelling and texturing, game design, moving image production, visual effects, extended reality, motion branding, social media strategy, user experience design, app design, creative coding and web design.

A strong emphasis on practical learning will enable students to develop digital projects from concept to completion while building professional portfolios that demonstrate their creative and technical capabilities. Assessment will include individual and group projects, presentations, written assignments and a final project.

The collaboration with MOGO Media Academy is expected to strengthen the industry relevance of the degree by connecting academic learning with practical creative-sector experience. Through project-based learning, industry engagement and professional networking, students will have opportunities to understand the demands of the workplace while developing career-ready skills.

MOGO Media Academy is focused on practical education and professional training in digital media and the creative industries. Its approach combines hands-on learning with industry exposure, helping aspiring creative professionals build technical capabilities, creative portfolios and the professional confidence needed to enter a competitive digital landscape.

NEXT Campus (NEXT Education Group) Founder and Chairman Dr. Dusty Alahakoon said: ‘We are delighted to partner with MOGO Academy to offer the BA (Hons) Digital Media degree awarded by London Metropolitan University. This collaboration brings together internationally recognised British higher education and industry-focused creative learning. It will provide Sri Lankan students with the knowledge, practical experience and professional confidence needed to succeed in the global digital economy.’

MOGO Academy Head Madonna Joy said: ‘This partnership represents an important advancement for digital media education in Sri Lanka. We look forward to sharing our industry knowledge and creative expertise while supporting students in developing the practical and professional skills required by today’s digital media sector.’

Graduates of the program will be able to pursue opportunities across a broad range of fields, including digital content creation, motion graphics, multimedia production, visual effects, social media, user experience design, web design, digital marketing, journalism, animation, gaming and media production.

The agreement marks a significant step in strengthening industry-integrated higher education in Sri Lanka and expanding access to globally recognised qualifications in emerging fields. Through the partnership, NEXT Campus and MOGO Media Academy aim to provide students with a pathway that combines the academic standards of a UK university degree with practical exposure to the skills and technologies shaping the future of digital media.

Amana Bank recognised as Sri Lanka’s best at IFN Awards

Reaffirming its leadership in Sri Lanka’s non-interest based Islamic banking and finance industry, Amana Bank secured three major accolades at the prestigious Islamic Finance News (IFN) Awards, including the coveted Best Bank in Sri Lanka award for the fifth consecutive year. Complementing this achievement, the Bank was also recognised as Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka and most Innovative Bank in Sri Lanka, further underscoring the breadth of its performance across key areas of banking. These recognitions come amid growing competition in Sri Lanka’s Islamic banking and finance industry, which now comprises more than 15 institutions offering Islamic financial services.

Now in its 20th year, the IFN Awards, organised by Malaysia-based REDMoney Group, recognise leading institutions and landmark transactions across the global Islamic finance industry. Amana Bank Managing Director/CEO Mohamed Azmeer attended the gala awards ceremony held in Dubai to receive the accolades on behalf of the Bank.

The awards span major Islamic finance markets including Malaysia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and South Africa. Beyond recognising leading banks, the IFN Awards also honour outstanding Islamic finance deals across areas such as Sukuks, sustainability financing, syndicated financing, cross-border financing and social impact financing. At this year’s ceremony, awards were presented to sovereign entities recognising them for pioneering Sukuk issuance initiatives, leading global financial institutions such as Standard Chartered and HSBC, international rating agencies including S and P Global Ratings and Moody’s, as well as prominent Islamic banking institutions such as Al Rajhi Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Dubai Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Managing Director/CEO Mohamed Azmeer said, ‘We are deeply honoured to once again be recognised as Sri Lanka’s Best Bank at the IFN Awards, and particularly proud to receive this recognition for the fifth consecutive year, alongside some of the world’s most prominent and respected institutions in the global Islamic finance industry. Being determined through a global industry poll makes these accolades especially meaningful, as they reflect the confidence and recognition Amana Bank has earned among stakeholders within the wider Islamic finance community. These achievements would not have been possible without the continued trust and confidence of our customers, shareholders, partners and other stakeholders, together with the dedication of our employees. We sincerely thank them for being an integral part of our journey and for inspiring us to continuously raise the standard of development focused people friendly banking model.’

Rain threatens Sri Lanka-Nepal T20I quarter-final clash today

Rain which washed out the first two quarter-finals that saw India and Pakistan both going through to the semi-finals threatens the third quarter-final between Sri Lanka and Nepal at Nisshin at 5.30 am today.

The last four games in the competition have had three washouts without the toss taking place, and one was abandoned after 15 overs. If the same fate befalls the Nepal vs. Sri Lanka game, it favours Sri Lanka, who will go through to the semi-finals, like India and Pakistan, for being the higher-seeded team. The winners will take on India.

Nepal had a cracking start in the tournament when they took down Afghanistan – a second-string side, though – who are ranked four slots higher than them, led by their spinners Kushal Bhurtel and Lalit Rajbanshi. It extended their T20I winning streak to six games, in which they have beaten six different oppositions across three countries. Not long before that streak started, Nepal had flown the Associates flag flying at the T20 World Cup when they gave England an almighty scare and then brought Scotland down with a riot of a victory in Mumbai.

If the rain relents in Nisshin, Nepal will back themselves against a team that is on a losing streak. Sri Lanka were blanked 3-0 in England just ten days ago where they were unable to reach 150 even once while England scored at 12 an over or more in each of the games. Before that, they also lost the T20Is 2-1 in the Caribbean and had exited the T20 World Cup with four losses on the bounce, including one to Zimbabwe.

The last time Sri Lanka won a game was in June. The last time they scored over 150 was also in June. The last time they breached 200 was in February. It could be an engrossing contest.

Sri Lanka has sent their second string side to Japan, while their first team was playing in England. Thus, Sahan Arachchige’s men will have a tough contest in their hands against a high riding Nepal side.

Groundworth launches ‘ISLA’

Groundworth Group has launched ‘ISLA’, an exclusive premium land development in Hokandara, offering a thoughtfully planned gated community that combines strategic connectivity, landscaped surroundings, and long-term investment potential. Designed around the concept of creating ‘Your Island Within the City’, ISLA brings together the privacy and tranquillity of a premium residential community with convenient access to key areas of Colombo’s expanding suburban landscape.

ISLA is positioned in a rapidly developing corridor in Hokandara, with excellent access to surrounding townships and major access routes. The development’s location in Hokandara places residents close to well-established residential and commercial areas, and it offers easy access to Thalawathugoda, Pannipitiya, Kottawa and Athurugiriya. The project is located at No. 15/10, Bastian Weragala Mawatha, Hokandara North, Hokandara.

Groundworth Group Managing Director and Co-Founder Kasun Andrahennadi said: ‘Our approach to identifying land that offers more than just a location is reflected in ISLA. Our goal was to build a development in a well-connected area of Hokandara that combines thoughtful planning, appreciation potential and a quality living environment. ISLA has been designed to give our customers the opportunity to build a space that reflects their aspirations while also giving them confidence in their investment.’

Every element of ISLA’s private gated community design aims to provide a refined and secure living environment. There are only 30 premium plots in the masterplan, and they range in plot sizes from 6 perches and above. The property has landscaped surroundings, 30-ft-wide internal access roads, and a well-constructed layout designed to create a sense of community, privacy, and space.

Clear title deeds and approved plans further support the development, giving buyers more assurance when considering the property for long-term investment or residential development. Land prices start at Rs. 1.8 million per perch.

ISLA is now open for site visits, with only a limited number of plots available.

Politics of identity

The recent controversy surrounding Canadian Tamil actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and the way she chooses to describe her identity offers Sri Lanka an opportunity to have a conversation that is far more important than the actress herself. Ramakrishnan has made clear that she does not identify as Sri Lankan, while describing herself as Tamil Canadian and emphasising her family’s Sri Lankan-Tamil origins. This is not an entirely new position for her and she has expressed similar sentiments for years.

Identity is deeply personal. It is shaped by family, geography, language, culture, history, memory and, sometimes, trauma. In Sri Lanka, many of us define ourselves through race, ethnicity, religion or birthplace. Some carry their school identity with them decades after leaving the school gates. We identify ourselves by our villages, universities, professions, political affiliations and even by caste. These identities may appear trivial to an outsider, but they are meaningful because they form part of an individual’s personal journey.

Of course, identities can also be painful. A label that gives one person pride can evoke exclusion or discrimination in another. ‘Sinhala Buddhist’, for example, may represent heritage, belonging and pride for one person, while for another it may recall experiences of discrimination or alienation. The answer cannot be to declare one person’s identity legitimate and another’s illegitimate.

What is required instead is a degree of empathy, the willingness to recognise that another person’s experience may be fundamentally different from our own. We do not have to agree with every interpretation of history or identity to acknowledge someone’s right to describe their own life.

This becomes particularly important when we confront Sri Lanka’s unresolved memories of the war. In recent days, some people in Jaffna commemorated Rasaiah Parthipan, better known as Lt. Col. Thileepan, who died in 1987 after a hunger strike while serving as a political leader of the LTTE. Many gathered in Nallur for the 39th anniversary of his death.

For many Tamils, Thileepan is remembered as a symbol of sacrifice and Tamil political aspirations. For many others in Sri Lanka, however, his association with the LTTE inevitably evokes a violent organisation responsible for immense suffering. Both realities form part of the country’s history. A mature society must be capable of acknowledging why one person can be remembered as a freedom fighter by some and regarded as a terrorist by others, without pretending that these perspectives carry identical meanings or consequences.

It would also be reasonable to expect those commemorating Thileepan to recognise the profound pain caused to the rest of the country by the LTTE and its leadership. Remembering one’s own suffering should not require forgetting another person’s suffering.

This is ultimately what the debate over Maitreyi Ramakrishnan should teach us. We need not embrace every identity that someone claims, nor every historical interpretation that accompanies it. But we should be secure enough in our own identities not to feel threatened by another person’s choice.

A stronger Sri Lanka will not be built by insisting that everyone remember the past in exactly the same way or identify themselves according to labels prescribed by others. It will be built by developing the confidence to accommodate differences, the humility to listen to experiences unlike our own, and the maturity to understand that another person’s identity does not diminish our own.

Seylan Bank Islamic Banking Unit secures three SLIBFI Awards

Seylan Bank’s Islamic Banking Unit has secured three awards at the SLIBFI Awards 2025/2026, recognising its achievements in innovative, Shariah-compliant financing and individual performance within Sri Lanka’s Islamic banking and finance sector.

The awards include the Gold Award for Deal of the Year for financing a 10MW Solar Power Project, the Bronze Award for Deal of the Year for financing a Broiler Farm Expansion Project, and an Individual Merit Award for Rising Personality of the Year (Male).

The recognition underscores the Islamic Banking Unit’s commitment to delivering meaningful financial solutions that support sustainable economic development, clean energy generation and agricultural growth in Sri Lanka.

The Gold Award-winning solar power project contributes clean energy to Sri Lanka’s national electricity grid, supporting the country’s renewable energy objectives. Meanwhile, the Bronze Award-winning Broiler Farm Expansion Project contributes to agricultural development and food security, highlighting the role of Shariah-compliant financing in supporting key sectors of the economy.

Head of Islamic Banking Unit Sameer Mohamed said: ‘We are honoured to receive three awards at the SLIBFI Awards 2025/2026. These recognitions reflect the commitment of our Islamic Banking Unit to developing innovative and Shariah-compliant financial solutions that create meaningful value for our customers and contribute to Sri Lanka’s economic development. The recognition of our project financing initiatives, alongside individual achievement, is a testament to the dedication and collaborative efforts of our team, management, Shariah Supervisory Board and valued stakeholders.’

The awards also recognise the contribution of Seylan Bank’s Islamic Banking Unit and Project Finance team in delivering financing solutions across diverse sectors. The Bank’s approach combines Shariah-compliant financial principles with practical financing solutions designed to support businesses and economic activity.

The solar power and agricultural financing projects demonstrate the potential of Islamic finance to support initiatives with broader economic and community benefits, including renewable energy generation, agricultural development and food security.

The Bank acknowledges the support and contributions of its top management, Shariah Supervisory Board, customers, business partners, Islamic Banking Unit and Project Finance team in achieving these milestones. The awards were presented under the SLIBFI Awards 2025/2026, with UTO EduConsult recognised as the associated awarding body in the event brief.

Seylan Bank’s Islamic Banking Unit remains committed to expanding access to innovative, impactful and Shariah-compliant financial solutions while contributing to Sri Lanka’s sustainable economic development. Through its financing initiatives, the Unit continues to support customers and businesses operating in sectors that are important to the country’s economic progress.

Are your systems ready for e-invoicing by December 31, 2026?

As the countdown to Christmas begins, taxpayers covered by the mandatory electronic invoicing requirement should now prepare for the December 31, 2026 electronic invoicing compliance deadline. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is now moving ahead with the mandatory implementation for covered taxpayers by year-end, following the recent issuance of Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 98-2026 prescribing the policies and guidelines for the issuance of electronic invoices under Revenue Regulations No. 8-2022 and RR No. 11-2025, as amended by RR No. 26-2025.

For the first phase of implementation, taxpayers required to issue electronic invoices by December 31 include 1) small, medium and large taxpayers engaged in e-commerce or internet transactions; 2) taxpayers under the Large Taxpayers Service (LTS); 3) taxpayers classified as Large under the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act and RR No. 8-2024; and 4) taxpayers using a computerized accounting system (CAS) or computerized books of accounts (CBA) with accounting records involving electronic invoicing, or other invoicing software.

The mandatory requirement by December 31, 2026 is limited to electronic invoicing. I understand that electronic sales reporting requirement will be implemented separately, pursuant to rules and procedures to be subsequently issued by the BIR.

Pursuant to RMC No. 98-2026, for an invoice to be considered an electronic invoice, it must be generated by a duly registered, approved or accredited accounting or invoicing software or system and must contain invoice data in a structured electronic format. An electronic invoice must also be capable of being electronically generated and transmitted to the buyer through email, online viewing, QR code, mobile application, web-based platform or other electronic means. The invoice data must be capable of being electronically extracted, processed and transmitted to the BIR for electronic sales reporting purposes.

Taxpayers have the option to use an in-house or commercially acquired invoicing solution, or avail themselves of the services offered by an Electronic Invoicing Service Provider (ESP) that is organized or licensed to do business in the Philippines. So, covered taxpayers who do not have their own electronic invoicing capabilities should now consider looking for the assistance of an ESP duly accredited by the BIR. As of this writing though, the BIR is yet to issue policies and guidelines governing ESPs.

What happens when the system goes down? RMC No. 98-2026 recognizes that systems can fail. So, in cases of downtime, connectivity problems, power interruptions, cybersecurity incidents or other circumstances that prevent electronic invoicing, a duly authorized manual invoice may be issued. Once the system is restored, the manual invoice must be replaced with the corresponding electronic invoice, bearing the reference number of the manual invoice.

So, therefore, covered taxpayers should not completely do away with their authorized manual invoices even after shifting to electronic invoicing. They should continue to maintain an adequate supply of duly registered or authorized manual invoices for use as a contingency measure in case their electronic invoicing system becomes unavailable. This will help ensure that sales transactions can still be properly documented during system downtime.

What happens if a taxpayer is not ready and fails to meet the December 31, 2026 deadline? RR No. 11-2025 provides that violations or non-compliance with the electronic invoicing requirements are subject to the penalties under Sections 264 and 264-A of the Tax Code. Therefore, penalties may include fines and imprisonment. Of course, the potential exposure may depend on the particular violation and the circumstances of the taxpayer.

To recall, the shift to electronic invoicing and electronic sales reporting can be traced back to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law in 2018. The law contemplated the eventual transition from manual to electronic receipts and invoices, upon the establishment of a system capable of storing and processing the required data.

The BIR subsequently issued RR No. 8-2022 establishing the Electronic Invoicing/Receipting System framework, followed by RR No. 11-2025 implementing the electronic invoicing and electronic sales reporting provisions of the Tax Code. RR No. 26-2025 later extended the compliance period for the first group of covered taxpayers to December 31, 2026.

Thus, almost eight years after TRAIN took effect, the electronic invoicing framework now appears to be moving toward broader mandatory implementation. With the BIR targeting the December 2026 deadline, taxpayers should now prepare for compliance, even as many still continue to seek more time for compliance due to cost and difficulty in compliance.

But whether an extension for compliance is forthcoming or not, taxpayers should determine whether they are covered, review their existing invoicing and accounting systems, and assess their readiness for compliance. Those that have already started preparing should review their implementation timetable, test their systems, and address any remaining gaps. Those that have not yet started preparing have no choice but to begin now.

Covered taxpayers should assess their internal capability to comply or whether they need an electronic invoicing service provider. In either case, proper tax advice is essential to ensure compliance.

The author is a partner of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law) (www.bdblaw.com.ph).

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal, or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at rodel.unciano@bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-2001 local 380.

The cost of being useful

On March 31, 1917, a Danish government representative in Washington accepted a treasury warrant for $25 million in gold coin and handed over three Caribbean islands the Danish crown had held since the 17th century. Copenhagen framed the sale as tidying up a colonial holding nobody at home wanted anymore. The United States called it a purchase.

It was a strategy: German submarines operated in the Atlantic, and Washington decided a Danish colony near American shipping lanes could not be left to chance. Denmark agreed.

Here is the ironic kicker. The sale came with a side letter. In 1916 Secretary of State Robert Lansing wrote that Washington would not object if Denmark extended its political and economic claims over the whole of Greenland, the same island the U.S. now wants locked down.

On September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump said that an agreement had been reached with Denmark regarding Greenland. Trump announced a deal giving the US what he called permanent control over security and all other needs in Greenland, without annexation this time and no money changing hands. Copenhagen keeps the flag while Washington keeps the military access, and a de facto say over who gets close to Greenland’s strategic minerals. China and Russia are the powers explicitly targeted for exclusion. The framework agreement, which now goes to the legislatures of Denmark and Greenland, was signed during the United Nations General Assembly on September 22.

The logic behind the transaction looks familiar even if the paperwork has changed. A larger power identifies a smaller ally sitting on ground it now needs, names a rival circling the same ground, lets the pressure build until refusal seems reckless rather than sovereign, and signs a document both governments can call a partnership. Denmark called 1917 a negotiation as it calls 2026 a negotiation. The word lets both governments file the transfer as consent instead of pressure.

The Philippines has already lived a version of this. In 1898, Spain transferred sovereignty over the Philippines to the US for $20 million without Filipino participation in the treaty. There was not a Filipino protest that changed anything, just a signature in Paris by men who had never lived in the islands. Manila was a line item in a war settlement over Cuba. Greenland, by comparison, was negotiated.

Greenland is inventory before it is a country. That is the analogy that does the work. It sits on the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom) gap, on missile-warning geography, and on rare earths that China wants to control. The Philippines sits on Asia’s first island chain, on sea lanes that carry other people’s oil and chips, and on nickel that Washington put in a February memorandum after the Arctic option looked messy.

The modern Philippine equivalent has a name and a decade of history behind it. The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) was signed in 2014, stalled through the Duterte government’s flirtation with Beijing, and reached the scale that matters, forces, equipment, and rotational access, after 2022. It now covers nine sites, including Basa Air Base and Fort Magsaysay. Washington’s line was that no other nation in the region should read a signal from the EDCA. Beijing read one anyway, the same way Moscow will read one from Greenland.

Manila chose this position. No warship came up the Pasig to extract it. The 2016 arbitral ruling, the 2023 base expansion, the repeated preference for American security guarantees over more generous-looking Chinese financing, were decisions made by Philippine governments that judged one dependency safer than the other. That judgment may hold up. It has not yet been tested the way Denmark’s was in 1917, or Greenland’s is now.

The US-Philippines minerals memorandum, a non-binding framework signed last February to diversify critical-mineral supply chains and push domestic processing instead of shipping raw ore, is Plan B dressed as industrial policy. Nickel is the Philippine card even as Washington looks to Greenland for another source of critical minerals, provided they can keep Chinese companies out of the supply chain.

Inventory gets appraised, not consulted, and the appraisal changes when a rival evaluator shows up. Denmark’s islands were useful against Germany in 1917 and useful again in 2026, different acreage, same idea. The Philippines has spent a century being useful first against Spain, then Japan and now China. The greatest benefit has always gone to the United States.

Usefulness renews on its own schedule. The language changes, the agreements get rewritten, and the same strategic ground gets a new label: negotiation, partnership, cooperation. The inventory remains. Only the price and the label change.

Sidama Bank becomes seventh company to list on Ethiopia’s securities exchange

Sidama Bank has become the seventh company to list on the Ethiopia Securities Exchange (ESX), extending a rapid run of new admissions that is expanding the country’s young equities market.

The bank began trading on the ESX Main Market on Monday under the symbol SIDAX after meeting listing requirements set by the exchange and the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority. Its shares opened at Br1,300, although trading was thin, with only nine shares changing hands during the debut.

Sidama’s listing takes the number of companies on the ESX to seven, six of them banks. Ethio Telecom remains the only non financial company listed on the Main Market.

The admission also marks the latest stage in the transformation of Sidama, which began as a microfinance institution in 1994 before becoming a commercial bank in 2022. The ECMA registered 1,447,002 existing Sidama Bank shares ahead of the listing.

Unlike a conventional initial public offering, the listing did not involve the sale of newly issued shares. Instead, existing shares were admitted for secondary market trading, allowing shareholders to buy and sell their holdings through the exchange.

The listing adds to a sharp increase in activity on the ESX this year. The exchange entered 2026 with only two listed companies, Wegagen Bank and Gadaa Bank, following the launch of operations in 2025.

Awash Bank joined the market in April, followed by Ethio Telecom in May, Abay Bank in June and Bank of Abyssinia in July. Sidama’s admission means the exchange has added five companies in just over five months.

The concentration of listings in the banking sector reflects the role lenders are playing in the early development of Ethiopia’s capital market. The new exchange is providing banks with a platform for public trading while gradually expanding the range of securities available to investors.

More companies are also moving towards listing. The ESX has said several major banks and other issuers are progressing through the admission process, including regulatory approval, securities registration and prospectus publication.

Sidama’s debut therefore adds another bank to an exchange that is still in its early stages, while the growing pipeline of potential listings points to a broader expansion of Ethiopia’s formal capital market.

Nigeria’s drug manufacturing push: But where is the import substitution?

Nigeria’s renewed drive to manufacture medicines locally deserves recognition, but it also deserves a more rigorous test. The nation has introduced fiscal incentives, regulatory reforms, financing mechanisms and procurement initiatives to strengthen domestic pharmaceutical production. The most basic measure of import substitution tells a less encouraging story.

Nigeria imported pharmaceutical products worth $767.4 million in 2023, according to UN Comtrade data compiled by the World Bank. The figure fell to $653.5 million in 2024 but rose sharply to $766.2 million in 2025, almost exactly where it stood before the current healthcare manufacturing push gathered momentum.

‘If tax exemptions, cheaper financing, procurement guarantees and regulatory concessions merely make manufacturers comfortable without making medicines cheaper, better or more available, then the policy has simply transferred benefits to producers.’

PVAC, launched in October 2023, was conceived with an ambitious target to raise local production of healthcare products to 70 percent by 2030. The rationale is compelling, as Nigeria’s dependence on imported medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and sophisticated medical equipment exposes the nation to foreign-exchange pressures, global supply disruptions, and decisions taken by multinational companies outside the nation.

The exits of GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi from direct commercial operations in Nigeria further exposed that vulnerability. The lesson was obvious, as a nation cannot guarantee healthcare security when too much of its essential supply chain depends on external producers.

The government has since taken several important steps. The October 2024 Executive Order introduced zero tariffs and excise duties on pharmaceutical machinery and equipment, waivers for some raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients, and measures to accelerate regulatory approvals. Financing pipelines have also emerged, including the pound 50 million facility provided by the European Investment Bank and the Bank of Industry to support healthcare manufacturers.

The proposed Medipool Programme, with its promise of long-term public procurement, could prove even more significant. Manufacturers do not need government protection forever but need sufficient certainty to justify investing in factories, technology and production capacity.

This is where our earlier concern about privileges for Nigerian drug manufacturers requires some qualification. Incentives are not inherently wrong. In fact, strategic infant-industry support can be justified where the objective is to build domestic capacity in a sector as critical as healthcare. The real question is whether those privileges produce measurable public value.

If tax exemptions, cheaper financing, procurement guarantees and regulatory concessions merely make manufacturers comfortable without making medicines cheaper, better or more available, then the policy has simply transferred benefits to producers.

But if those interventions create globally competitive Nigerian pharmaceutical companies, increase domestic production, reduce foreign-exchange exposure and eventually lower medicine costs, then the privileges become investments in national economic resilience.

There are encouraging signs, as the Federal Ministry of Health says local manufacturing now accounts for nearly half of healthcare products consumed in Nigeria, while registered pharmaceutical companies have increased from 180 in 2022 to more than 200 in 2025. Nigeria is also moving towards deeper pharmaceutical production, including plans for an active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing plant.

These are meaningful first steps, but the biggest concern is measurement. ‘Healthcare products’ is broader than pharmaceuticals, making it difficult to compare the government’s nearly 50-percent local-production claim directly with pharmaceutical import figures. Nigeria needs a transparent yearly scorecard showing exactly how much of medicines, APIs, vaccines, diagnostics, and medical devices are produced locally, how much is imported, and what the 70-percent target yearly means in measurable terms.

The 2025 import figures provide an important warning. After declining in 2024, pharmaceutical imports rebounded by 17 percent. If domestic production is genuinely replacing imports, that substitution must eventually become visible in the trade data.

Therefore, PVAC should neither be dismissed as a failure nor celebrated as a finished success. It is better understood as a programme taking one step at a time.

The first step was creating incentives. The next was mobilising finance. The next must be expanding production. But the decisive step is ensuring that Nigerian-made medicines can compete on price, quality, reliability, and scale.