One of Nigeria’s leading commercial banks, the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) says it has introduced a special financing scheme aimed at supporting pharmaceutical products marketers and strengthening businesses within Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
The Head of Healthcare Sector, Mrs. Chidinma Chigbo-Anachebe, said on Friday at the conference and exhibition organised by the Association of Pharmaceutical Products Marketers of Nigeria (APPMAN) in Enugu that the bank established a dedicated healthcare sector unit in 2025 to provide tailored financial solutions to businesses operating in the pharmaceutical industry.
According to her, under the new initiative, members of the association could access invoice financing of up to N30 million without collateral, at a low interest rate.
“FCMB is one of the few banks that had worked with the health businesses. Now they wanted to deepen the relationship further and they went to get someone from the health space to help their businesses.
“As a health sector player of over 15 years, I am coming into the bank with the mandate to help the businesses in this sector thrive.
“There has been a deficiency in funding, and FCMB is very particular about stimulating growth in the health industry and that is what we are doing currently.
“We have partnered with some associations in health and one of them is APPMAN. We are at their annual conference where we are financing the invoices of members who are buying from the pharmaceutical companies.
“The whole aim is to ensure that they are able to buy more products and they are able to sell more and they pay over a period of time,” she said.
She appealed to interested APPMAN members to present recommendation letters from the association’s National President and their respective State Chairmen before accessing the facility.
The bank official noted that the initiative was designed to enable pharmaceutical marketers to purchase more products, expand their businesses and defer payment through the bank’s financing arrangement.
Chigbo-Anachebe described the initiative as part of the bank’s commitment to providing appropriate financing solutions to businesses and supporting the growth of Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
In his keynote address, the Registrar/CEO, Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), Dr. Donald Ofili, cautioned the pharmaceutical marketers against marketing and distributing substandard products, especially falsified laboratory kits.
Ofili stressed that circulation of the substandard and falsified kits was capable of worsening the healthcare needs of the people, as it would result in wrong diagnoses and treatment of patients.
According to him, this would erode trust in both the health system and in the legitimate pharmaceutical marketers, who play by the rule.
The Registrar disclosed that the MLSCN and APPMAN would jointly collaborate to ensure that falsified lab kits as well as substandard drugs are not circulated in the markets, in order to protect the health of the people.
GIK/APA