The Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has expressed the need for Nigerians to stop medical tourism and for the country to also start producing drugs locally.
He said this at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event held in Lagos on Wednesday.
Stressing the need for every Nigerian including the rich to be able to treat themselves in Nigeria when they fall sick, Dangote hinted that it is important to partner with Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation to achieve this.
“What we need to do is to make sure we stop this health tourism and we should now get in to start producing our own drugs,” Dangote said while speaking during a panel discussion at the event.
“We should now make sure that when we are sick, we don’t have to travel abroad, all of us, but we need to do a partnership with Bill (Gates).”
Africa’s richest man recalled that the Dangote Foundation through partnership with the Gates Foundation has helped to end Polio in Nigeria and did quite a lot in improving nutrition.
In terms of business, Dangote said that his company has done a lot by reversing a lot of things. According to him, Nigeria used to be the second largest importer of cement in the world but now it exports cement more than any other African country.
He also highlighted how farmers previously struggled to access fertilizer, but today, he has built the second-largest fertilizer plant in the world from the ground up.
“So, Nigeria now, not only export, we actually export 37% of our fertilizer to the United States of America,” he said.
In petroleum, Dangote stated that he did what nobody has ever done before by building 650,000bpd refinery. He disclosed that in the month of May 2025 alone, the Dangote Refinery exported 400,000 metric tons of petrol.
According to him, this has ended Nigeria’s dependency on imported petrol, as the country no longer imports the product.
Hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the first time in Lagos, the Goalkeepers event brought together global leaders, policymakers, and changemakers to assess progress toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Other notable dignitaries at the event included Bill Gates Dangote; the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; and the Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, among others.
The Publisher in Chief of ibSpotlight:
Chief Jacob Oroks
I believe that ending health tourism and building a robust domestic pharmaceutical industry isn’t a lofty dream; it’s an urgent necessity and there are concrete steps we can take right now. First, our regulatory agencies must be strengthened and streamlined: if the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) adopts expedited review pathways and a clear, transparent set of quality-assurance benchmarks, local manufacturers will have the confidence and the roadmap they need to scale up rapidly. At the same time, I suggest establishing a dedicated “Pharma Innovation Zone” in each geopolitical zone public-private clusters that bring together universities, research laboratories, small- and mid-sized drug producers, and international partners (such as the Gates Foundation or CEPI). These hubs would not only accelerate technology transfer but also foster the kind of cross-disciplinary R&D that can lead to affordable therapeutics for diseases like malaria, Lassa fever, and even noncommunicable illnesses such as hypertension.
Second, financial incentives are pivotal. Dangote’s example shows that large-scale investment can be transformative, but small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in pharmaceuticals need access to low-interest loans, tax holidays, and guaranteed procurement commitments from public hospitals. I propose that the Federal Government partner with development finance institutions to create a ₦50 billion “Pharma Growth Fund,” earmarked exclusively for local drug producers who meet minimum Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. This fund would not only subsidize plant expansions and equipment purchases but also underwrite workforce training because a skilled cadre of pharmacists, biochemists, quality-control specialists, and regulatory affairs officers is the bedrock of a credible industry. By offering scholarships and apprenticeships in pharmaceutical sciences at our universities, and by recruiting diaspora experts for short-term residencies, we can ensure that domestic talent keeps pace with global best practices.
Finally, we must address the end-to-end supply chain: from raw materials to last-mile distribution. Too often, local producers struggle with inconsistent power supply and inadequate cold-chain logistics. My suggestion is to establish regional logistics centers publicly funded warehouses equipped with solar-powered generators and central testing labs so that finished drugs can be tested one last time before being dispatched to pharmacies in remote areas. In parallel, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) should be mandated to source a minimum percentage (at least 30 percent) of its formulary from domestically produced generics. This guaranteed market will de-risk production and stabilize cash flow for local manufacturers. We should also encourage community pharmacies to form co-operatives for bulk procurement, which will lower unit costs and reduce stock-outs.
In short, by combining regulatory reform, targeted financing, workforce development, and supply-chain overhaul, Nigeria can transition from importing 70 percent of its drug needs to exporting pharmaceutical products across West Africa within a decade. At ibSpotlight, we will continue to feature and amplify the innovators, entrepreneurs, and public-sector champions who are already working on these solutions because it’s only by spotlighting their successes (and their setbacks) that we galvanize the broader community to take collective action. The time for rhetoric is over; let’s build the factories, empower the scientists, and ensure that every Nigerian has access to safe, affordable medicine produced right here at home.