Stories by Ene Osang Abuja
Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Abuja Professor Olatunde Peter Ajagbonna, has revealed that synthetic drugs is the major cause of early deaths in the country today. Prof. Ajagbonna disclosed this while fi elding questions from Journalists at the 24th inaugural lecture of the institution tittled; ”Ethnopharmacology in the Triangle of Man, Animal and Disease. Ajagbonna is the fi rst to give an inaugural lecture from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, also the fi rst from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the University of Abuja. According to him, there are various medicinal plants which have cured diff erent ailments and diseases years back which are still available today, regretting that Nigerians have neglected these plants for synthetic drugs which brings them to early grave. ”Nigerians are dying at 30-40years with all the available synthetic drugs, and toxism is on the rise with its unbearable causes, yet the various natural medicinal plants the country is blessed with is being neglected. Th is shows that something is wrong. ‘
‘Our fore fathers lived a long healthy lives on these plants; we can leverage on these plants for almost all diseases of man and animal. Th ese plants medicine is cheap, easily assessable and is tolerable to most of us this clime. He disclosed that apart from medicinal benefi ts of these plants they can be leveraged on for sustainable developments, saying there is a huge market for it which other countries are already making huge amounts of money from. ”It is something we can leverage on for sustainable development because other global markets are in tune of almost 90-100billion dollars and it is rising to 5trillion.
”Whereas Nigeria is the hot spot, we are not matching our word with action. It is a huge market and especially as we are talking diversifi cation, we should be able to look at this area,” he said. Th e Prof. stressed that for government to improve the health and wellbeing of the citizenry, it must recognise fi rst that plants can be leveraged on. He emphasised the need for the improvement of research and development, as well as regular building of capacity of scientists in the country. ”We need to wake up to develop these plants and be in the same state with China and India who are the two key players in this area,” he stressed. He to this end urged the Federal Government to wake up to adequate legislation and regulation of drug agencies, to stem the spate of failing drugs and encourage local drug development capable of curing all diseases of man and animals.
