ARC identifies real problem with Nigeria’s public health sector, others

The Africa Resource Center, ARC, Nigeria, has identified poor logistics as the real cause of Nigeria’s under-performance in recent World Bank ranking. The Center noted that movement of medicine was difficult in the country.

Recent ranking by the World Bank showed that Nigeria underperforms in global and regional peers on key levers of logistics and supply chain efficiency.

Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI’s transport and logistics survey conducted in 2014 showed that 25 percent of annual profit of industrial operators in Lagos State is lost to the clumsy transportation system.

ARC-Nigeria said it was more worrisome the fact that studies confirm shortage of logistics staff and managers, and lamented that universities in Nigeria are not aligned well with industry or government needs in supply chain capacity.

ARC Nigeria said there should be a paradigm shift from the current standard, arguing that there should be a collaboration of Private Health Sector.

Speaking at the maiden ARC Partnership Forum, Dr. Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, CEO, Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria, stated that the private sector has the expertise, resources, and capabilities that the public health sector can benefit from to increase availability of medicines and health commodities in the country.

He said, “The impact ARC aims to achieve is an improved performance of the supply chains to increase availability of medicines health commodities at the last mile.

“Collectively, the private sector possesses both tangible & intangible assets that give it a distinct advantage in tackling specific health issues, including building efficient, effective & resilient supply chain systems.

Also speaking, a Regional Director, ARC for Supply Chain, Azuka Okeke, revealed that ARC Nigeria is currently working to build a centralized and regional Supply Chain Resource Centre.

Azuka, added, “ARC is focusing on areas that collectively leverage supply chain expertise, tools and capabilities to support performance improvements in the public health system.

“These areas include supporting supply chain strategy, advocate for supply chain investments and provide independent advice and expertise; support Ministries of Health to shape investments and align donors and implementing partners; access private sector expertise, tools, methods and capability to improve supply chain transformations and supply chain management as well as broker partnerships to strengthen Ministries of Health capability and build long-term talent for supply chain in Africa.”