COVID-19: FG playing politics with finding local cure- Herbal experts

AS the whole world searches for a solution to the global health emergency posed by the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, herbal experts in Nigeria have accused the Federal Government of playing politics with finding local cure for the deadly disease.

In separate interviews with The Point, some herbal experts railed against alleged Federal Government’s “discouraging and strange” attitude towards efforts to look inwards for a cure for the pandemic ravaging people all over the world.

They spoke against the backdrop of the recent decision by the Federal Government to import herbal remedy for COVID-19 from Madagascar, a small island in Africa.

The herbal experts argued that if not for the “gameplay” and politics applied by the Federal Government and its health agencies to the search for local cure for the raging disease, the country would not now be at the mercy of a small country like Madagascar, which was not as blessed as Nigeria with potent herbs that could cure COVID-19 and other ailments.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, had during the week, called on traditional and alternative medicine experts and manufacturers claiming to have developed herbal formula for the treatment of COVID-19 to submit their products for clinical evaluation.

NAFDAC had stated that claims by traditional drug practitioners of having the cure or treatment for COVID-19 were found mainly in either the conventional news media or social media, adding that only one application had so far been received for the treatment of Coronavirus symptoms, and not for the cure of the ravaging disease.

As of Friday, Nigeria had recorded 288 fresh cases of coronavirus, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control. This brought the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 5,445.

While 1,320 infected persons had been discharged, no fewer than 171 Nigerians had so far died from the pandemic.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, had during the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja, last Monday, announced that Nigeria was expected to receive samples of COVID-Organics, the herbal medicine used by Madagascar to treat COVID-19 patients.

Mustapha, who is also the chairman of the task force, however, said that the herbal medicine would go through standard validation process before it could be considered for use in Nigeria.

But medical experts in the country, including pharmacists, nurses and laboratory scientists, kicked against the plan by the Federal Government to import the herbal remedy from Madagascar.

Although the Federal Government said during the week that it did not request for the Madagascar herbal cure for treating COVID-19 patients as the medicine was offered as a general gesture of ‘brotherly love’ from the government to all African countries, Nigerian herbal experts argued that accepting the imported cure was suspect and indicative of the Nigerian government’s unresponsiveness to efforts at finding local cure for the disease.

Already, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and even herbal drug experts have accused the Federal Government of being reluctant and tardy in terms of encouraging local research and development for indigenous cure for the disease, saying the country was only waiting to participate in the World Health Organisation-sponsored trials of COVID-19 drugs.

But a herbal and traditional medicine expert, High Chief Ikudaisi Aremu, told The Point that the Federal Government should discard the politics it had allegedly been playing with finding the local cure for COVID-19 and urgently consider claims by those saying they had found the cure for the deadly disease.

Aremu expressed regrets that if “government politics” had been left out of the efforts to get a cure for COVID-19, traditional herbal medicine experts would have long found the most potent remedy for the disease.

He, however, said that if the traditional medicine practitioners could be given the assurance that they would be supported by the government in their efforts, within a short period of time, the potent local remedy for the cure of COVID-19 would be found in Nigeria.

Aremu said, “The decision by the Federal Government to import herbal cure for coronavirus from Madagascar is totally disappointing and a big shame on us in Nigeria. We are so blessed in this country that we have herbs that some countries do not have around the world. Our land is fertile to the extent that whatever you plant will grow. We live in a tropical side of Africa, which makes it possible for us to be blessed with all these natural resources. But disappointedly, we have leaders and government that are clothed with corruption, and as a result of this, we don’t see anything good coming out of this country except we import them.

“Let me tell you, if not for the gameplay that is behind this COVID-19 issue, I am very sure that we traditional doctors would have nipped this thing in the bud. Imagine, Nigeria now importing herbal concoction from fellow African country, when we have a solution here. Does it speak well of us? We are rich enough in herbs to cater for ourselves on this COVID-19 issue. This COVID-19 issue is related to chronic malaria (ako iba), which we cure under a few days.

“Let the government leave politics out of it and listen to our people, who already have the herbal solution to this COVID-19. Let them be invited and get the cure for them. Moreover, they should be treated like they will treat a white man that has brought a cure. If they can be given an assurance about this, I can tell you that a lot of herbal cure will come out under a short period.

“We are more than blessed in the area of herbs; we don’t need Madagascar herbs, and every herb you see around you, as I speak with you, cures one thing or the other. I hope this COVID-19 issue will help the government to start valuing what they have instead of running abroad every time.”

Similarly, another traditional medicine practitioner, Chief Seyi Ojelabi, told The Point that several herbal experts and even the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, had offered to help in finding local herbal cure for the disease, but rather than encouraging such people, the government had given them a cold shoulder.

Ojelabi said, “Importing Madagascar herbal cure for COVID-9 is just like importing water from a fellow country in Africa. Nigeria is so blessed in herbs beyond this. I don’t want to say our leaders are cursed. If not, what will it take them to listen to traditional medicine experts and sponsor them to come up with a solution to COVID-19?

“Ooni of Ife has spoken on producing the herbal cure for this virus, but they neglected him. Various other people are ready to find the cure but our government is not helping matters. I think they should have a rethink and allow this cure to be done here so that the world will respect us.”

He, however, warned herbal practitioners to be cautious in submitting their drugs to the government for clinical trial, saying, “Whoever goes should be careful so that they are not rubbished. Our government only value things done by white people.”

“I would advise our people not to be discouraged. Let’s forge ahead and get the herbal cure for the sake of masses,” Ojelabi added.

But a naturopathic medical expert and Biochemist, Dr. Qazeem Olawale of Olaking International Holistic Medicine Company, Lagos, disagreed with Ojelabi.

Olawale told The Point that submitting herbal claims for clinical tests, as being demanded by the Federal Government and the WHO, would establish standards in traditional medicine practice.

The Biochemist, who pleaded with the government to look into his own herbal product, Cletox, which he claimed to have specifically designed to cure COVID-19 and other related diseases, said it was high time Nigerian government embraced indigenous herbs, “otherwise, we would not be helping ourselves, health wise and economy wise.”

On the position of the government and WHO that herbal cures would be subjected to clinical tests, he said, “We’re ever ready to do the same. We are in this situation all together and we surely want to help our people, too. Of course, this is not the first time we would be telling the masses that nature has a cure for all that affects our body system, but this kind of support speaks volume for the wide acceptability of our cure.

“With a synergy like this, it will bring forth more standards, which will enable us to sieve the wheat from the chaff, making the business of health primarily based not on making money, but that of saving lives and empathising with those with ailments of different kinds. Lastly, with the support of WHO, rest assured that we would find standards in our traditional healthcare management system.

“My advice to the Federal Government is to believe more in our expertise, call us to come forth to defend our claims, and put strict guidelines and regulations for herbal medicine practice, but ease the processes. This will improve our health care system to help more patients overcome their health issues, especially those thought to be incurable.”

But another traditional medicine practitioner, Dr. Oye Gbenga, who is also a lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, however, warned that subjecting herbal cures for COVID-19 to laboratory tests might not give the true results about the potency of some of such local remedies.

According to him, although traditional medicine practitioners in Nigeria are ready to submit their claims for clinical trials, the process may disprove or make some of such claims disputable even when they have been found to be effective in practical treatment of patients.

He told The Point, “We, traditional medicine practitioners in Nigeria, are ready to subject our herbs to clinical test. Let the country give us the platform to subject what we have to laboratory tests or trials.  However, there are some herbal medication that can heal a man but when you subject it to direct laboratory analysis, we may sometimes not get the same result. If you subject such medication to laboratory tests, it will look as if it would not work for the body, but it will fight the condition that is inhibiting immunity to work. It is like you give a security man a gun, the gun itself cannot fight but when it is in the hands of the man, the man will use it to repel the intruders. Such medicine, when it gets to the body, will empower the body to resist the virus.

“The attention being given to the traditional medicine by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 is an opportunity to get our medicine to be subjected to trial. We have more than one solution to COVID-19. We have solutions to different diseases but nobody has given us the empowerment.

“The Federal Government should open the window for us and monitor the utilisation of indigenous medicine and Nigeria will be healthier. Many Nigerian traditional medicine practitioners have been exporting our herbs to different countries in West Africa. God will help our nation and allow us to use what we have to produce what we need. Government needs to formally encourage indigenous solution to COVID-19.”