Barrister Ben Amodu, is a herbal farmer, researcher, and graduate of Industrial Pharmacy from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
He also owns a herbal farm in his hometown, Omala Local Government Area (LGA), Kogi state, and has been into herbal research and farming for 30 years.
In this interview with AJUMA EDWINA OGIRI, he talks on his research drugs that malaria in one day, as well as other illnesses, and his rejection by the Nigerian government
WHO and SAABMAAL Malaria drug In one of the panoramas on national television, I told them that I was going to modify one of my products called SAAB, to treat and cure Malaria.
To live up to that expectation, I went ahead and did my local research, and today I have a one-day cure for Malaria, SAABMAL.
It is also a cure for typhoid.
Not only that, it is an adjuvant in the treatment of cancer, sickle cell, arthritis and other diseases.
When we did the research and it was successful, we sent our publication to a United States based publisher, and this publisher without talking to us, leaked to the World Health Organisation (WHO) that there is a Nigerian who has developed a one-day cure to malaria.
No other malaria active ingredient has been discovered that has this power on malaria.
Another thing it does asides curing malaria, is to prevent malaria.
Even the WHO vaccine, that is being tested now, can never come near SAABMAAL.
As I speak to you today, SAABMAL has been registered in South Africa, we are just waiting to do clinical trial.
WHO instantly became interested, obtained our abstract from the publisher, reviewed the abstract, approved of it and sponsored four of us to the United Nations (UN), to present this discovery.
The entire presentation was reported and broadcasted on National television.
After broadcasting the discovery made by a Nigerian on the national television, no government official called me; the President of the country, the minister and the permanent secretary.
Yet, that time, Nigeria went to china to obtain artemisinin annua, a Chinese plant that has properties for the treatment of plasmodium falciparum; which is the main causative agent of malaria.
Land clearing alone by Nigerian
government in preparation for the plant totalled N3.6 billion. Whereas, I sat down here, did a local research and discovered a material that can eradicate plasmodium falciparum from the human system at 97 per cent.
The Indian journal of medical research, which is over 140 years old, published my discovery of SAABMAAL.
But Nigeria cannot stand up in the committee of nations to say that this is what our own person has discovered, even after it has got to this level, rather they pretend like nothing has happened.
They prefer to patronise those ones that have been rejected and abandoned in other countries.
You push these abandoned medicines on a continuous basis.
We want our own Nigerian medicine.
We have our Nigerian medicine that can stand neck to neck with any medicine anywhere in the world, and even surpass them.
Politics and importation of herbal drugs You can easily link politics and importation of herbal drugs.
Is money for malaria not coming? Unknown to them, those monies are being monitored.
They were stolen and traced to officials’ accounts in England.
We are in an international environment, so those things will continue to play; other countries will continue to bring their goods, whether good or bad.
There is a market for herbal medicine in the world; about $100 billion, and we will be a major player.
But because of the lukewarm attitude of our people, we have not been able to benefit anything.
They will continue to import from all those countries because people’s interest varies.
If we work hand in hand, the consumer who wants to buy will find out the potency, and once he knows it is potent, he will abandon the Chinese medicine and buy the one that will give him benefit for his money.
Most of my products have 70 per cent effectiveness, either in blood pressure, diabetes, cancer among others.
I don’t do it with quacks, I do it with the Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD).
NIPRD is a WHO herbal medicine centre of excellence. So, you can now understand why we are following WHO guidelines.
I also have herbal drug that can cure HIV/AIDS. As a scientist, I don’t want to shout yet until the volume is large.
My salad materials which I worked on can revive and bring a HIV/AIDS patient, who is in a critical condition, back to life.
A lot of people are also maintained on my Blood Pressure (BP) drugs and they are doing very well.
Research focus My research is communicable diseases, which deals with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis.
The second branch is non-communicable diseases, which are diseases that we must grow into as we age, and they include: cardiovascular diseases exemplified by high triglycerides, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, chronic kidney disease, cancer, athsma, arthritis and ulcer.
These diseases are the number one cause of death in the entire world.
According to 2008 WHO result, 51million people died all over the world and 36 million of the deaths is due to non-communicable diseases.
Yet, we have the solution for all the communicable and noncommunicable diseases, have we not captured the world? With the far-reaching research we have done, we have been able to tame and cure diabetes and high blood pressure.
Diagnosis I do not diagnose anybody.
My job as a pharmacist, is to ensure a doctor must have seen patient and put the patient on certain medications.
If those medications are not working and the patient comes to me I ask for the patient’s medical report before I give medication.
I do not condemn the doctor’s prescription; the patient uses my drugs along with the doctors’ and there are no side effects.
If he or she notices the general weakness of the body he used to have has disappeared or the sugar level has normalised after he started combining with my drugs, then I will tell him to drop the other drugs.
Advice for government Nigeria have serious health crisis, and look at our population; very big, over 180 million.
My advice for the government is that we are open to the treatment of communicable diseases, which can be used to diversify the economy, and we are willing to partner with government to achieve the diversification with our products.
Most of the things we are doing have been pre-reviewed, and is in line with scientific principles of best practices.
So, there is nothing we are doing here that is not in line with best practices.
