Washington, DC — The aid community often focuses its health projects on hospitals and clinics, but the Pan African Health Foundation chose to go in a different direction – by building a factory in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to manufacture safe syringes for the Nigerian market.

Once it is fully operational, the factory will produce 20 percent of the country's syringes. AllAfrica interviewed Amenya E. Wokoma, executive secretary of the foundation, on how the factory was built, its future and its importance. Excerpts:

Tell us how this project got started. 

We spent three years from 2000 going through management assessment. By 2003, we knew we could not get anywhere. [Former President Olusegun] Obasanjo was writing us letters, "Where is the syringe factory?" It could not pass the risk assessment. The returns on investment [were] too low. For you to invest in Nigeria – in Africa – you need to have high returns on investment. That is the only reason why people go there.

So we were advised... [to try] doing this through the not-for-profit route… It was not [going to be] very profitable, [so] why not set up a foundation and see whether you can promote it that way? That is how the foundation was set up. It took on the syringe factory as its first project.

Where did you look to raise funds?

We went around the world. We went to the United States in 2004, to the United Kingdom, then to Nigeria in 2005. The idea was that we would raise money principally from the U.S., the UK, and Nigeria.

Of course we had our eyes on the oil companies… [This project] encapsulates all you want to talk about in development. You are doing technology transfer, you are doing job creation, you are doing inward investment, you are saving foreign exchange, you are fighting diseases. Who would not like it? Especially the oil companies...

When we started fund raising, everybody was saying [it was a] good idea but nobody was writing checks. We went to Nigeria… and we actually got a commitment in 2004 from the oil companies to give us U.S. $3 million. We estimated that the plant would cost U.S. $20 million, so $3 million was a very good start. We also got a commitment from the host state government, Rivers State, for 200 million Naira, which is the equivalent of $1.5 million, and a commitment from the [Nigerian] federal government for another $1.5 million.

What did you do next?

We decided to start... plant construction in 2004 with $6 million in the bank because we were counting [on] $3 million from the oil companies. Unfortunately, they did not redeem their pledges. They have not given us a penny, which is the most shocking aspect of this program if you ask me.

With the oil companies out, where did you look for funds and how did you convince them to write the checks?

[Although] we started with $3 million, we ran out of money by 2006. It was not an easy concept to get someone to write a check for. [It would have been easier if] we told them we were building a hospital or clinic – but not a factory. Most people think of a factory as commercial, you are making profits.

So by the middle of 2006, we had to start talking very seriously with President Obasanjo because he was personally involved and very keen on this. So we went back to him, and he decided: "Pan African Health Foundation, don't think you can raise this money, so let me raise it."

He wrote to the governor of Rivers State and to us, saying let Rivers State government and the federal government complete the plant on a 50/50 basis. By then we needed the balance of $20 million. Rivers State immediately brought their 50 percent, so we bought equipment, but the federal government would not bring theirs. They are slow – their budgeting process is a little more tedious.

Really, in Nigeria they say a lot about developing the Niger Delta, but... we did not see the money from the federal government. So at the end of the day, Rivers State government even covered the federal portion.

In the end, who was responsible for most of the funds?

The plant was financed 90 percent by Rivers State government and the balance from the federal government, and a little money from other sources.

What is the status of the factory now?

We have finished it and the test runs have just been completed. We are going to start operations once we get certification from Nafdac (the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control), which is the equivalent of the [United States] FDA (Food and Drug Administration). They have to certify the syringes for public consumption. We are confident that we should get that done. At peak we should [employ] about 300 people. Right now, we are at 200.

What is the production level of the factory?

160 million syringes per annum – equivalent to 20 percent of what Nigeria consumes. Our market is not just Nigeria. We are looking at the whole of West Africa, Central Africa, reaching all the way to Sudan. If you are building a syringe factory in Nigeria, if you want syringes in Congo, do you want to go to India or China? If we are estimating market potential, we tend to see twice the Nigerian market size.

What direction do you see the factory taking in the future?

We are currently talking about expansion. Producing 160 million syringes only is not very economical, if you want to produce quality syringes… We have been advised strongly that the minimum size is about 800 million.

In places like China and India… they are doing two billion a year. So if you are making 160 million, you are not economical. Already the Rivers State government has said, yes, this is something we would like to get involved in, the expansion. If we expand we hope to reduce the per unit cost of production by about 30 percent. That is a lot.