Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Federal Government has announced plans to invite all researchers and herbal medicinal practitioners in the country to a summit to verify claims of their having a cure for COVID-19.
Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, stated this when a pharmacist and herbal medicine practitioner, Dr. Ben Amodu, visited him in Abuja, yesterday.
He said renowned scientists in the country would be given the opportunity at the summit to subject their herbal products to clinical trials and toxicity tests to validate if they could cure COVID-19.
He, however, did not disclosed the date for the meeting.
Onu bemoaned the fact that many drugs used in the country were imported even when there were abundant medicinal plants that could be harnessed for pharmaceutical purposes.
“Such medicinal plants and their products could also be exported, thereby helping to diversify the economy and create more jobs for Nigerians,” he said.
He said Nigerian scientists should to take the lead in finding solutions to the COVID-19.
The minister reaffirmed government’s commitment to support indigenous herbal medicine research efforts for commercialisation and diversification of the country’s economy.
Managing Director of Halamin Herbal Products, Dr. Ben Amodu a researcher on communicable and non-communicable diseases, claimed that his product ‘SABVID-19’, can manage various diseases, including COVID-19 and other respiratory related diseases stating that clinical trials and tests on the products carried out in Canada, showed 89 per cent effectiveness to combat cancer.
Amodu solicited partnership with the government to help develop more cures for diseases ravaging the world.