From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that no country can depend entirely on foreign help to meet the health challenges of its people.
The minister stated this in a virtual/physical meeting with scientists, researchers and traditional medicine practitioners, on claims of effectiveness of COVID-19 and natural compounds, held in Abuja on Monday.
Onu recalled that a few weeks before COVID-19 was detected in Nigeria, he announced a given away price of 36 million to any Nigerian scientist/researcher who can develop a remedy to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This, he said, was part of the strategy to galvanize the development of homegrown solutions with the aim of protecting Nigerians against COVID-19 diseases.
In response to his call, many scientists made submission of their herbal remedies to FMSTI which lead to the inauguration of the Inter-ministerial Committee of Experts on COVID-19 herbal remedies in FMSTI.
The minister stated that the essence of this was to review the claims and submissions by Nigerian scientists, researchers and traditional medicine practitioners.
The outcome of the claims, Onu said, was resolved in the selection of several herbal remedies for COVID-19, through the conduct of Clinical Trials, to agree and discuss all claims.
The minister said that it was also at the meeting that the global community has recorded significant progress in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic through the cooperation of Pfizer, BioNTech, Astra-Zeneca and a host of others in developing vaccines that have proven efficacious in protecting against SARS-COVID-2 as well as its variants.
Onu stated that despite that the disparities in the percentage of vaccinating the rich and poor in the country, COVID -19 could not easily be won all over the world.
This clearly shows that no country can depend entirely on outside help to meet the health challenges of its people, the minister declared.
He resolved that Nigeria must develop the capacity, through research and innovation, to look after the health needs of Nigerians.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Science and Technology and Innovation, Barr Muhammed Abdullahi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Etah Akpan, thanked the minister for his initiative, support and leadership towards the development of a homegrown solution for the treatment and management of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria and beyond.
While he also commended the efforts of the scientist and researchers as well as herbal practitioners for their efforts at finding solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic.