Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has commissioned a $15 million syringe and needle production plant in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state. The plant, HMA Medical Limited, has the capacity to produce 200 million syringes and 350 needles yearly.
According to the management of the plant, it is a wholly indigenous venture partnering a Sino-German company and is currently providing employment for 120 people and will also provide indirect jobs for about 600 people. Osinbajo said the federal government would continue to create an enabling environment for indigenous industries and manufacturers to thrive and create jobs.
Chairman of HMA board of Directors Hon. Ayodele Shittu said the company intended to expand the plant production capacity from the current 200 syringes and 350 per annum to 500 and 700 million respectively in the next three years.
He said: ”We are also expanding into construction of a state of the art intravenous infusion plant, which we project to commission in the next 24 months. "HMA Medical Limited will at the end of this expansion provide more than 1000 jobs to our teeming youths.”
Shittu said the finished products from the plant would be exported to ECOWAS and African Union (AU) countries. The chairman also bemoaned the high tariffs being charged manufacturers on imported raw materials and machines.