The ministry of science and technology has tasked Nigerians to take advantage of the N100 million traditional medicine market by exploring the unlimited herbal resources in the country.
Ogbonnaya Onu, who heads the ministry, said Nigerians could come together, brainstorm on the possible ways of researching and harnessing the herbal resources available and avoid importing herbs from other countries.
“Nigerians can on their own decide to come together to look into ways we can better use the resources and how we can stop this massive importation of things that we shouldn’t really be bringing in from other countries,” he said.
Onu frowned at the increasing rate at which Nigerians patronise herbs from other countries, claiming that it is one of the reasons why Nigeria is still bereft of peace and prosperity.
Onu encouraged Nigerians to protect their intellectual findings as this will go a long way to avoid further importations. However, Onu expressed confidence that the National Strategy on Competitiveness.
It could be recalled that the federal government was almost concluding plans to raise N100 million for Nigeria’s National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) at the beginning of the year, primarily for herbal resources.
The NIPRD to set up a unit that is devoted to traditional herbal products research.
