While, a monopoly in an economy could not be described as an animate being in the same way that mythical Medusa was, its menace of destructively consuming communities renders it an altered personification of a hydra-headed monster itself. And like most fabled Gorgon monsters, a valiant heroic Titan is needed to defeat it.
In our world, the recent ‘sugar’ dispute between Dangote Industries Limited and The BUA Group is a modern-day reverberating saga of how this different form of hydra-headed monster, is being confronted and gallantly defeated by one of Nigeria’s very own indigenous Titans.
A monopoly, in any form, is truly a hydra-headed monster, which has a penchant for destroying the Nigerian dream and does not prognosticate well for the economy primarily. There are several facets that render a monopoly a hydra-headed monster, least of which is that it creates a market concentration that likely results in higher commodity prices than in a more competitive market.
Linda Akhigbe
Updated April 22, 2021
The committee is investigating the failure of government agencies to the policy on local production of syringes five years after it was validated.
The Senate on Thursday directed the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire to put together a policy to compel all government hospitals to procure locally manufactured syringes.
The Senate Committee on Health gave the Minister a six-week ultimatum to carry out the directive.
The Committee gave the directive during an interactive meeting with local manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, the Ministers of Health and Trade and Investment as well as the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
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The Senate has given the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire an ultimatum to put together a policy to compel all government hospitals to procure locally manufactured syringes.
The Senate Committee on Health gave the Minister a six-week ultimatum to carry out the directive.
The instruction came during an interactive meeting with local manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, the Ministers of Health and Trade and Investment as well as the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, expressed displeasure with NAFDAC for licensing companies in India and China to import syringes into the country while ignoring Nigerian producers.
How Nigeria’s sugar production collapsed for decades, allowing Dangote, BUA imports to thrive
Nigeria has relied almost entirely on sugar imports for at least 30 years despite the government’s professed efforts to boost local production. 3 min read
Nigeria produced far less sugar in 2020 than it did in 1990 and repeatedly failed to meet its production targets, allowing massive importation to flourish for decades as domestic demand grew, government data show.
The data, generated by the
Nigerian Sugar Development Council (NSDC), show that despite the government’s professed efforts to boost local production of sugar, and claims by Dangote Plc and BUA Group to have substantially invested in that programme, the nation has relied almost entirely – over 98 per cent on the importation of raw sugar for the last 30 years.
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