Alternative Medicine Practitioners in Ogun State have kicked against the importation of herbal medicines into Nigeria, calling on the government to support and promote locally-made produced herbal drugs.
The practitioners called on Governor Dapo Abiodun-led government to facilitate the procurement of modern equipment that would further promote their practice with dignity.
This, according to them, would “eventually turn the state to the largest producer of certified and quality herbal products in Nigeria.”
Speaking at the 13th graduation ceremony of the African College of Traditional Medicine, held at Wasimi, a member of the Ogun State Alternate Medicine Board, Dr Ajisope Aroyewun, said the time has come for all practitioners to embrace modern ways of processing their herbal products.
Aroyewun, while speaking on behalf of his colleagues, stressed that the Alternate Medicine Board in Ogun would need the support of the present administration to achieve its set objectives.
In his words, Aroyewun emphasized that there was nothing special about all the herbal products being imported into Nigeria.
He emphasised that all the herbal drugs could be produced and packaged in modern ways in Nigeria so as to have more patronage.
He affirmed that “75 per cent of materials being used for all the imported herbal products are readily available in this country,” regretting that “Africans and Nigerians, in particular, are still lagging behind due to lack of support and the inability to access the needed machines to process the products.”
Speaking, the founder of the college, Chief Samson Soyoye, while commending Gov Abiodun for the Alternate Medicine Board, charged him to support that aspect of medicine with adequate funding and provide 21st Century equipment.
Soyoye urged the government to support traditional medicine the same way it is done in orthodox medicine.
He congratulated the graduands, saying “the African College of Traditional Medicine is a well-recognised institution that was certified by the Federal Government of Nigeria some ten years ago.”
Meanwhile, one of the graduands, Reverend Father Paul Okorome, commended the founder of the college on the manners the school is being managed, stating that “we were taught traditional medicine without worshipping or paying homage to any deity or gods.”
Okorome promised to introduce the study to many of his colleagues, who are Reverend Fathers.
