Hello, welcome to my podcast. My name is klu Aga, and this
is the way I see it, of course, my podcast where we're talking
about money, finance and of course the economy. So last week I did
watch a video about a Nigerian consumer and he was really lamenting about the very
very high cost of inhalers in Nigeria. You know, he had asthma and
according to him, the company that markets the inhalers, the Ventalin brand,
was leaving Nigeria, so the cost of the inhalers has gone up significantly.
He used to pay a thousand five hundred food in healo. Now he's paid
about eight thousand, five hundred for the same inhalo. So in the video,
he was saying, hey, the government should do something. He was
even given specific actions, perhaps bringing the company back to Nigeria so the cost
could fall. Very interesting. So I decided to take a look at this
whole inhaler price and I see how we possibly could you know, could address
the contents by this consumer who was clearly in need of this drugs a bit
cheaper, you know. So on Amazon, I went to Amazon. The
cost of a vod inhala is called the branded bental in sixty accutations give what
takes about twenty four dollars. That's I looked at it November the sixteenth.
Let's assume we have a one thousand narraw to one dollar exchange rate. That
means this particular inhaler would cost about twenty five thousand raw. So what if
it was that I macked that up by say fifty percent, called my import
duty transportation needs to cre so that means it lands in Nigeria is about taty
seven thousand, five hundred narrow. So this is clearly unaffordable to mini Nigerias
because the minimum which in Nigeria, believe it or not, it's about testy
five thousand. It's just gone up by to teny five thousand. Yeah,
so if you did did this way, not a lot of Nigers can afford
it. In America, Amazon does sell this exact same inhaler for just four
dollars if you've got insurance. If we make that up, that's about six
thousand. So when you were getting there, to waste affordable. But if
you have insurance. So if this gentleman that was talking on the video had
insurance, the nitrate is called the nhis he would have contributed about five percent,
his employ will about ten percent of his basic MOTI salary. Then possibly
she could then afford this inhaler either at six thousand or at the teny five
thousand if he had insurance. The question arises that what if he doesn't have
insurance? This then means that the government would have to step in and for
that entitlement program for those that cannot afford this. Remember this is a life
saving job, right, so it's like medicaid. The government will have to
step in and fund this program to be an entitlement program on a need based
or should we say income means tested basis. So it's a choice. The
government can fund its expenses or it can fund healthcare. And there are many
ways the government can fund this, right, it could take sympathic oil money
and buy tons of inhalers. It could give tax bas and grants to GSK
to come to Nigeria. But I'm for the view that the government can easily
fund this by simply cutting down wasteful expenses. Let's look at the numbers,
right, if we took the costs, let's just say five billion and just
big figure out the year five billion, and we committed that to dollars.
That's about five million dollars if it went to GSK and we give them a
five million dollar contract at the minimum, even using that high price on Amazon,
we're gonna get about one thirty three thousand, three three units. This
is taking the price on Amazon without insurance. We get more nearly or in
a taxty four thousand units, which is significant. We can distribute to Nigeria's
that cannot afford this. So it's really really that simple for Nigeria, cut
down expenses and use those savings to buy life saving drugs like inhalers for your
citizens. Right. And you can also do what the guy has said,
call back GSK to Nigeria, probably give them a tax break or give them
a long tax holder and say hey, make this drug it's very very you
know, essential for Nigerians. We'll give you charge, you know, taxes.
Just come in and make them so our consumers, our citizens can afford
them. That's really what we need to do as a government. Right.
But the bigger message here is simply this, the government exists for the poor
and for those that cannot take care of themselves because they simply can't afford to
and inhala is imported. Even not four dollars which is about six thousand if
you're at the markup, not a lot of Nigerians can afford it. Thus,
the government can step in and use the resources. It's oil revenues which
is paid to the federation to subsidize the cost of this life saving drugs.
And the government can only get this revenues when it cuts down on its own
wasteful expenses. So the long and short of it is this, the government
cuts down on wasteful expenditures like yachts, like bulletproof SUVs, like perfume,
and it takes those savings to buy life saving drugs for its own citizens.
Believe it or not, there's a hard choice in Nigeria, right should we
buy yachts or should we buy inhalers. I know the answer, and I
know you listen know the answer too. But does the government know the answer
that we should either buy yachts or in healers. My view, my prayer
is that the government does buy not just in haalers, but build schools and
build the hospitals for the poor and the vulnerable that isn't able to have a
better life because they have a government that cares and listens to them. I
always say nature's problem is spending, not the revenues. All right, folks,
thanks so much for listening. Again. My name is Calu and thanks
listening to this podcast the way I say. It's available anywhere you get your
podcast where I find the rest downloaded, Share with your friend, and I
appreciate you for doing that. Ask you guys next time. Bye,