Crown Agents has held a contract with the Department for International Development (DFID) for the past 15 years to supply commodities under their Nigeria aid programme.
As part of the scaled up efforts to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals DFID is funding a range of health sector interventions. These projects are focused on health systems strengthening and include the supply of commodities, in particular essential drugs, contraceptives and anti-malaria bednets. One particular project, Health Commodities Project (2005-2010) has resulted in 20 million Nigerians being able to access basic health services at provincial level for the first time.
Crown Agents is utilising the expertise of its staff in Abuja, London and Singapore to deliver a world class supply chain service in Nigeria so that people receive high quality commodities. The Nigerian regulatory body NAFDAC (National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control) is working hard to eradicate the supply of fake drugs. Working closely with NAFDAC, Crown Agents inspects and carries out random quality assurance sampling through independent laboratories and then through NAFDAC's testing regime on all of the drugs procured.
Growing the Nigerian private sector as a supply base is one of the major benefits of DFID's support since 90% of the suppliers used by Crown Agents for Nigeria are Nigerian.These suppliers suffer severe cash flow problems and we have put mechanisms in place to ensure that the suppliers get paid on time. Crown Agents transparent procurement process has benefitted an increasing number of reliable Nigerian suppliers. This results in value for money for the aid funds and economic growth in Nigeria.
Crown Agents has a comprehensive supply chain management approach in Nigeria which handles quantification, procurement, inspection and last mile logistics with delivery country-wide. Our Abuja team includes technical inspectors, logistics and customs clearance experts and a professional pharmacist.
We use our in-house logistics company Greenshield Cowie to arrange delivery of international consignments into Nigeria and distribute them across the country. A recent challenging exercise saw the importation, customs clearance and delivery country-wide of 1,400 x 40 foot containers of bednets. It can be a complex process to get the goods through customs but our expertise in the field ensures timely importation and distribution.
Our work in Nigeria is undertaken in partnership with a variety of international and local organisations, e.g. Society for Family Health.