Latest report by BMI, a Fitch Solutions subsidiary, has revealed that the naira may hit its lowest depreciation to N1,993, posing a significant challenge to Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry, particularly in importing essential medical devices, a new report.

In the report titled “Weak Naira and Structural Challenges to Constrain Nigeria’s Medical Devices Market Growth”, BMI projected that despite an anticipated rebound in the economy, Nigeria’s medical devices sector will face operational and demand challenges in the near term.

The report noted that Nigeria relies on imports for over 95 per cent of its medical devices, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in exchange rates.

“Continued weakness of the naira will increase medical device import costs and erode consumer purchasing power. Similar to other markets in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria heavily relies on medical device imports, with reliance of over 95 per cent.

“We expect that the naira will end 2028 at N1,993/$ from N306/$ in 2018. As the naira weakens, the cost of importing medical devices will continually increase, eroding both the health system and patient purchasing power especially to invest in essential medical technologies given underfunding of the public health sector.

“This would particularly affect high-cost demand for devices such as diagnostics, orthopaedics and dental products. On the export front, a weaker naira will enhance the competitiveness of locally manufactured medical devices, fostering growth in the sector,” the report stated.

While a weaker naira could enhance the competitiveness of locally manufactured medical devices, BMI highlighted persistent barriers to local production.

These include a scarcity of skilled labour, limited access to modern technology, and inadequate infrastructure, which continue to undermine manufacturing efforts despite government incentives.

The administration of President Bola Tinubu has implemented measures aimed at easing these pressures.

In June 2024, an executive order was issued to reduce medical service costs by eliminating tariffs, excise duties, and Value Added Tax on specific machinery, equipment, and raw materials, with the goal of lowering local production costs.

However, BMI observed that the medical devices market would continue to face significant challenges in the short term.

The report forecasted that Nigeria’s medical devices market could grow to a value of N171.1bn (£344.7m) by 2028, supported by a large population, an increasing focus on universal health coverage, and the double burden of chronic and communicable diseases.

Nigeria’s economy is expected to recover in 2025, with a growth rate of 3.0 per cent predicted for 2024, compared to 2.9 per cent recorded in 2023.

However, persistent issues such as high inflation, tighter monetary policies, and weak foreign direct investment could weigh on the growth of the medical devices sector.

The partnership has seen over 500 SAS-skilled students complete Centre’s leading Business Mathematics and Informatics (BMI) Masters program since its inception.

Specialisations include Business Analytics, Actuarial Science, Quantitative Risk Management and Financial Mathematics.

“SAS was founded in 1976 at the North Carolina State University by academics and researchers, so involvement with academia is in our DNA,” says Andre Zitzke, Manager: Global Academic Programs in Africa for SAS. “The nature of work is changing, with the application of analytics capable of providing solutions to any question imaginable. We see it as part of our mission to grow the ecosystem of people capable of doing that work. Through partnerships like this one, we support growing a sustained pipeline of postgraduate data science skills to our customers and the local market.”

The partnership not only develops data and analytics skills amongst students. It also enables educators to bridge the gap between academia and industry. “We help train faculties to deliver the latest in technology, but this is done in a collaborative triangular approach that includes our customers. They, too, bring their top-tier research and professional talent to create practical experience programmes, technical experience programmes and professional networking,” Zitzke adds.

Prof Helgard Raubenheimer, Director at the Centre for BMI says: “NWU is the SAS Flagship Universityin South Africa and contributes thought-leadership to the global SAS Academic Network. We’re proud of our achievements, and of our 10 specialisations we’ve developed with SAS from undergraduate to master level, and we are committed to building on these further.”

The partnership seeks to meet growing corporate demand for data and analytics skills, while supporting NWU in its objective to deliver highly skilled and employable graduates to the workforce. To this end, SAS provides the full stack of SAS Academic resources, open access to SAS Data Science software for teaching and research and sponsors the SASLab chair.

“The NWU SASLab is the Big Data Science reference for universities in Africa and the Middle East, with a rich, peer-reviewed Academic Research output,” Raubenheimer says. “It hosts the one of the largest SAS Big Data installation in Africa for Data Science Teaching and Research and is available as a resource to other Universities as well.”

The Centre for BMI also actively engages and contributes to building programs in Middle East, Africa, Turkey and ASEAN.

More than 75% of the Centre for BMI’s Masters graduates are employed by SAS customers and partners, in South Africa and abroad. Graduates with expertise in an industry standard like SAS, as well as open-source skills, stand out in the competitive job market. Digital credentials that validate expertise, augment and enhance degrees do carry significant weight with savvy employers seeking people who can get the job done.

“The professional networking opportunities created by our triangular approach are crucial. Mentorship and career development are as important in the development of data professionals. When we expose young people to successful leaders in their career fields, we create a standard to emulate. This is what moulds the next generation of industry leaders across the world,” concludes Zitzke.