Nigeria Can Boost GDP With Traditional Medicine Export – Varsity Don

Prof. Jude Effiom Okokon, an expert in pharmacology and toxicology, has decried the lack of enough investment in traditional medicine by alternative medicine practitioners.

He said that such neglected field has the potential of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Nigeria.

Okokon said that “Nigeria is blessed with therapeutic plants that could translate to foreign exchange if their active ingredients were standardised and formulated into drugs and supplements.”

While revealing that  medicines could be derived from microorganisms, plants and animals, he noted that active medicinal plants with high therapeutic value from farmlands, gardens and bushes, if properly explored “will make no disease incurable.”

Prof. Okokon, gave the insights while presenting the 133rd in the series of  inaugural lectures of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) on the topic; “Bioprospecting the Therapeutic Treasures in Plants: The Ancestral Wisdom and Scientific Innovations for Sustainable Healthcare and Autarky.”

Addressing the packed audience at the 1,000 – capacity TETfund auditorium of the institution’s main campus at Nwaniba, Uyo, the state capital, Okokon, maintained that with support from the Federal Government, Nigeria can become economically independent, especially in the area of healthcare.

He said: “Many therapeutic treasures hidden in our plants, and much more would have been achieved if good working conditions and environment were provided, as in other climes.

“Besides, if the plants mentioned above were to be exhaustively analysed, the active ingredients characterised, standardised and formulated into drugs and supplements, Asian countries like China and India, which have developed their traditional medicine so much, will not compete with Nigeria.

“One could imagine how much foreign exchange would have been attracted through the sale and export of these products in various formulations for various conditions.

“In fact, Nigeria’s economy would have been transformed from a petroleum-driven economy to a super economy. We will not be regarded as a low-income economy today if our naturally endowed natural resources (medicinal plants) were to be exploited.

“I believe that if the Nigerian government were to support research properly by providing an enabling environment, funding, and necessary equipment, the sky would be our limit, and Nigeria would be truly independent economically and in healthcare.”

The professor explained that major researches in the use of local medicinal plants in Akwa Ibom State and South-South Nigeria, have been proven that they can be used to treat tropical diseases like malaria, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity and cancer.

Others are organ diseases and dysfunctions, pains and inflammation, gastrointestinal tract disorders, leishmaniasis, and prostate disorders, and serve as anticonvulsant and antidepressants, immunomodulatory and antioxidants activities.

He, however, lamented that paucity of funds was a major limitation in medicinal research and called for the provision of essential and relevant state-of-the-art equipment in universities to boost research.