THE Musan Lafiyarmu foundation and COVID-19 Relief Support Initiative (CORSI) based in Kano and Osun state, respectively, are two examples of how Youths in Nigeria through humanitarian foundations are supporting the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
These bodies are doing this through donations and awareness creation, TheICIR has monitored.
TheICIR gathered that Musan Lafiyarmu foundation has donated hand sanitizers, disinfectants and other items to about 6,000 individuals in states such as Abuja, Yobe, Kano and other Northern states.
According to the founder of the northern foundation, Dr. Naima Idris, the distribution of palliatives has become as important as building isolation centres.
“It is a great feat that isolation centres are springing up but what about the equipment inside them, we should not just have beds without equipment to treat the patients” .
Dr. Naima Idris, while tasking the Nigerian government on equipping isolation centres around the country, encouraged the Nigerians to support their neighbours.
Musan Lafiyarmu foundation distributing palliatives. Photo credit: Musan Lafiyarmu foundation
Speaking on the challenges encountered during the donation, Dr Naima said lack of proper orientation about Coronavirus makes some people sceptical about support given by humanitarian groups.
“We had issue of people fearing contracting the virus through our donation. Infact, at a place, a young lady rejected our item and refused to touch it, when I asked her why, i found out that they have feeling of contamination of donations which is a wrong idea but generally we were accepted and it was helpful seeing how much impact efforts, no matter how little can make a difference” Dr Naima told this newspaper.
While Dr Naima Idris is championing the course in the northern part of the country, Oladoyin Mahroof and Odejobi Muyiwa, the founders of COVID-19 Relief Support Initiative (CORSI) are also contributing their quota in Gbongan, Aiyedaade local government of Osun state, southwest Nigeria.
Odejobi Muyiwa giving packaged food item to an old woman. Source: CORSI
According to Mahroof, the initiative was founded and committed to reaching out to the aged ones in Osun state who are no longer fit for labour.
“These people deserve to be catered for in every conceivable way as part of our ultimate deliverable objectives. It is our collective responsibility to make the world a better place to live for others through the act and gesture of charity to the needy and vulnerable ones”
While asked by TheICIR on how they funded the initiative despite the obvious economic hardship in the country, Muyiwa disclosed that the initiative called for donations and contributions from the general public towards distributing relief materials to the aged through Facebook posts and unsolicited Whatsapp broadcast to friends and families.
“I and Mahroof designed the broadcast message and we sent it to all our contacts on whatsapp and also posted it on Facebook. We received credit alerts, gift items and other supplementary items after then and we distributed the goods we bought with it in two phases to the old ones in our communities. we are doing this towards making life meaningful for the ageing fathers and mothers”.
While recounting the challenges faced, Mahroof expressed that aside paucity of fund, their greatest challenge was the inability to reach to many more people because of limited resources.
“Many aged people are still looking up to us to bring food stuffs… those we were unable to give anything.”
Part of the food items distributed by CORSI. Source: CORSI
He added that in the course of distributing the foodstuffs, they realised that “there are many vulnerable in the society than what the government will make us to believe.”
NIGERIA Police on Thursday, says it has arrested suspected killers of late Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasorantin, who was killed in July 2019 by armed men along Ondo-Ore road, Ondo State.
The arrest was effected nine months after the incident.
According to the police, the operation which led to the death of Olakunrin was carried out by an eight-man gang, headed by one Tambaya, currently at large.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, who confirmed the arrest in a statement issued by the Force Spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Frank Mba identified the suspects as Lawal Mazaje ‘m’ 40yrs from Felele area in Kogi State, Adamu Adamu ‘m’ 50yrs from Jada area of Adamawa State, Mohammed Shehu Usman ‘m’ 26 years from Illela area of Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar ‘m’ 25yrs from Shinkafi area of Zamfara State.
It explained that the arrest of one of the gang members, Auwal Abubakar after a high-profile armed robbery and kidnap in Ogun state, led to the arrest of others in Edo and Ondo states respectively.
“…The arrest of Auwal Abubakar led to the arrest of two (2) other members of the gang, Mohammed Shehu Usman and Lawal Mazaje in Benin, Edo State from whom cache of ammunition was recovered and one other Adamu Adamu in Akure, Ondo State,” it stated.
“Having established sufficient physical and forensic evidence linking the suspects to the killing of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, the investigators, determined to clear all doubts relating to their findings, on 8th April, 2020, conducted an identification parade at the Federal SARS Headquarters, Lagos which led to the positive and physical identification of three (3) suspects, Adamu Adamu, Lawal Mazaje and Mohammed Shehu Usman by a survivor of the earlier crime.”
It further stated that the survivor had given a clear description of the roles each of the identified suspects played in the killing of Olakunrin, which subsequently caused the suspects to ‘voluntarily offered a no-holds-barred confession’ on how the deceased was killed.
It could be recalled that Olakunrin was murdered by unknown persons on 12 July, 2019.
On 13 July, the IGP had deployed Fimihan Adeoye, the Commissioner for Police in charge of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), to coordinate the team of Police Special Forces and investigators from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Federal SARS, Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) from the Force Headquarters, Abuja to fish-out Olakunrin’s killers.
The Police emphasised that while four of the suspects mentioned above remained in custody, it is intensifying efforts to arrest the four others who, according to the operatives are still on the run.
“The 8-man gang has their operational base and membership spread in the south-western part of the country and Edo State.
“Investigations have also revealed that they are responsible for series of high-profile armed robbery and kidnap operations in the region. They also attack, vandalize and steal components of critical national infrastructures such as electrical and telecommunications installations,” the statement added.
The IGP, however, declared ‘Tambaya’ wanted for his involvement in the death of the deceased.
“Tambaya, a Nigerian, speaks Hausa, Fulfulde and Pidgin English languages. He is fair in complexion and in his late 20s – between the age of 27 and 30. His last known address is Isanlu, Kogi State. He has visible scar from stitches on his forehead down to his nose and mouth.”
The ICIR further queried Mba to know if the suspects’s confession was not induced by torture since information obtained by coercion or threat is not admissible in law.
Mba dismissed the question, saying the press release was “self-explanatory.”
THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has directed that markets in the territory would henceforth be opening only on Wednesdays and Saturdays after residents defied the lockdown order to contain the spread of Covid-19.
This was part of the outcome of a security meeting chaired by Muhammad Bello, FCT Minister to review the effects and level of compliance of the cessation of movement in the FCT as part of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.
A statement issued at the end of the meeting by Anthony Ogunleye, Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister lamented the low level of compliance with the lockdown order across the satellite towns located at the various area councils where residents have largely ignored the lockdown directive.
The statement added that adherence to the lockdown directive at the city center has also deteriorated over the past few days.
“Residents have used the excuse of going to the markets to flout the lockdown directives and traders selling non-essential food commodities have also used this window to open their shops in clear violation of the directives not to do so,” it said.
“Despite the directives that residents should patronise neighborhood shops and markets within their districts and not move from one district to the other to buy their essential items in order to minimize movement of people and vehicles across the city, this has largely been flouted as well.”
However, Ogunleye said in the statement that the FCT Administration has issued new guidelines in order to ensure that Abuja does not witness an escalation in the number of Covid-19 positive cases and prevent a public health emergency.
Besides opening markets in the territory twice in a week, residents are now allowed to patronise only neighborhood markets, noting that movement from one district to the other now constitutes a violation of the lockdown.
He added that Mobile courts will now be activated to try all violators of the directive on the cessation of movement across the FCT while motorcycles (Okada) are henceforth barred from operating anywhere in Kubwa and Dutse Alhaji during the lockdown.
“The FCTA will step up sensitization efforts especially in the rural communities and enjoins Area Council, Chairmen, traditional rulers and community leaders to actively engage in sensitizing the populace on the dangers of Covid -19,” Ogunleye said.
Abuja has recorded 58 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and is second behind Lagos State that has 214 confirmed cases.
The ICIR had reported how hunger, indiscipline and ignorance were defeating the lockdown order in Abuja.
DISINFORMATION campaigns sponsored on social media by foreign actors in Nigeria’s socio-political landscape is a recurring feature that enables the spread of fake news in the country, according to a study released by the Centre for Development and Democracy, CDD.
The study titled “Disinformation and the new media landscape in Nigeria” identified that though Nigerians play a major role in boosting or suppressing misleading content, the agents involved in facilitating disinformation in Nigeria, include international firms outside the country, paid trolls, partisan media outlets, social media influencers and automated bots.
The study was based on more than sixty interviews with respondents across the six geopolitical zones in the country.
Data analysed by CDD from a Twitter dataset of over 30 million tweets between 31 December 2018
and 30 January 2019 involving the accounts of major politicians, political parties, media houses, and hashtags that discussed the issue of Nigeria’s election boycott and Biafra secession.
About 96.4 per cent of the accounts analysed were located within the country, of the 532 that
mentioned the issue of Biafra and election boycotts, only 56 per cent which accounts for 301 Twitter accounts were based in Nigeria while 231 Twitter accounts were based outside Nigeria.
However, the accounts produced such a high number of tweets of which nearly half of them came from outside the country reinforcing biases in ways that are potentially divisive.
Citing an active Twitter bot account, @nwakpa_gabriel, that generated 521,518 tweets within a 40 day period which is equivalent of over 13,000 tweets per day.
“With the increasingly sophisticated technology, it is becoming harder to decipher fact from fiction online in Nigeria with any greater certainty.
“The same tools and mechanisms that are enabling disinformation to penetrate society faster than ever before, are those that can be used to shed light on facts that can drive more accountable and transparent governance,” the study revealed.
Hinting that online campaigns which blossomed from factual reports have drawn on a strong digital presence to amplify pre-existing, offline campaigns which include #EndSARS, #NotTooYoungToRun, #BringBackOurGirls and #FollowTheMoney.
In 2019, We Are Social, a social media analysis firm, estimated that Nigeria had 24 million active social media users, an increase of 26 per cent on the previous years figures with numbers likely to have risen as internet infrastructure improves and mobile data and phones become more affordable.
According to the study, the deliberate intent to mislead is fuelled by Nigeria’s political and ethnoreligious landscape, challenged by insecurity, provides fertile ground for the spread of disinformation on social media platforms and private messaging applications that are growing in user’s month on month.
“The more sustainable solution lies with creating a more digitally informed and educated citizenry, capable of assessing for themselves what is true and what is not online,” the study stated.
With the increasing spread of disinformation, the need to curb the spread of false information has been proposed and implemented in some countries, but it comes with serious risks to citizens freedom of expression.
“However, information shared online is not always false. In fact, the same tools and mechanisms enabling disinformation to penetrate society faster than ever before, are those that can be used to shed light on facts that can drive more accountable and transparent governance,” the study concluded.
BEN Ayade, Governor of Cross River State and also a professor of Microbiology stirred controversy recently when he said the practice of social distancing might be ineffective to control the spread of coronavirus.
“Social distancing presupposes that things are so equal, that you stay in an isolated room, it is completely wrong because in natural circumstances, in our own cultural habit people are used to interacting, we are not electric poles, we are not trees, we are interacting by nature,” Ayade said in a video that went viral on the social media.
“Social distancing gives a false impression of security because I know that if you and I stand together and I sneeze, that two metres distance, the factors that govern the transmissivity are things that are beyond your own control. Variables like humidity, wind speed, wind direction, how do you control those factors?” he questioned.
He said science has backed the use of nose masks as an option; that social distancing is not as effective as some people have argued.
Consequently, the governor whose state is yet to record any case of Covid-19, directed all civil servants from grade level 10 and above in the state should wear a face mask and resume work on Tuesday, April 14.
The governor’s position has generated controversy, but not many of his critics have invalidated his position with evidence. But is the governor right in his estimation?
Social distancing according to WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reeled out some public health guidelines for public safety. In an article titled, “Basic protective measures against the new coronavirus,” the world health body listed frequent washing of hands and maintaining social distancing among others as preventive measures.
According to the WHO, everyone who has not contracted the virus should maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
The guideline explains that when someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus.
If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the Covid-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease, it said.
What Centre for Disease Control says about social distancing
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDD) sayssocial distancing which is also called “physical distancing,” means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home.
To practice social or physical distancing, the Centre says someone must stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) from other people, and people should not gather in groups as well as stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings.
It emphasised that in addition to everyday steps to prevent COVID-19, “keeping space between you and others is one of the best tools we have to avoid being exposed to this virus and slowing its spread locally and across the country and world.”
“When COVID-19 is spreading in your area, everyone should limit close contact with individuals outside your household in indoor and outdoor spaces,”CDD advises.
“Since people can spread the virus before they know they are sick, it is important to stay away from others when possible, even if you have no symptoms. Social distancing is especially important for people who are at higher risk of getting very sick.”
Why practice social distancing?
The Centre explained that Covid-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet) for a prolonged period.
It said spread happens when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, and droplets from their mouth or nose are launched into the air and land in the mouths or noses of people nearby.
“The droplets can also be inhaled into the lungs. Recent studies indicate that people who are infected but do not have symptoms likely also play a role in the spread of COVID-19,” it explained.
The CDD added that it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes.
However, this is not the only way the virus spreads. Covid-19 can live for hours or days on a surface, depending on factors such as sunlight and humidity.
It emphasised that social distancing helps limit contact with infected people and contaminated surfaces.
Scientific basis for social-distancing interventions against COVID-19
Joseph A. Lewnard and Nathan C. Lo in an article published in Lancet Journals on March 23 gave both a scientific and ethical basis for social distancing against Covid-19. The Lancet is an independent, international general medical journal founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley.
Lewnard is is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of California who uses mathematical and statistical modeling to study infectious diseases, Nathan C Lo is a Resident physician and public health scientist, at the School of Medicine, University of California.
In the article, they both agreed that, by all scientifically meaningful criteria, the world is undergoing a Covid-19 pandemic.
Writing on the ways to prevent the spread of the virus which has no cure at the moment, they said: “In the absence of any pharmaceutical intervention, the only strategy against COVID-19 is to reduce mixing of susceptible and infectious people through early ascertainment of cases or reduction of contact.
Under the Lancet Infectious Diseases, Joel Koo and colleagues assessed the potential effect of such social distancing interventions on SARS-CoV-2 spread and COVID-19 burden in Singapore.
They concluded that the effectiveness and societal impact of quarantine and social distancing will depend on the credibility of public health authorities, political leaders, and institutions. It is important that policymakers maintain the public’s trust through the use of evidence-based interventions and fully transparent, fact-based communication.
In another article titled “The effect of control strategies to reduce social mixing on outcomes of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, China: a modelling study” published on March 25 in Lancent Journals, researchers concluded Restrictions on activities in Wuhan, if maintained until April, would probably help to delay the epidemic peak.
According to them, the research was aimed to estimate the effects of physical distancing measures on the progression of the Covid-19 epidemic, hoping to provide some insights for the rest of the world.
At the end of the exercise they summarised their findings: “Our projections show that physical distancing measures were most effective if the staggered return to work was at the beginning of April; this reduced the median number of infections by more than 92% (IQR 66–97) and 24% (13–90) in mid-2020 and end-2020, respectively.
“There are benefits to sustaining these measures until April in terms of delaying and reducing the height of the peak, median epidemic size at end-2020, and affording health-care systems more time to expand and respond. However, the modelled effects of physical distancing measures vary by the duration of infectiousness and the role school children have in the epidemic.”
While interpreting their findings, they said: “Restrictions on activities in Wuhan, if maintained until April, would probably help to delay the epidemic peak. Our projections suggest that premature and sudden lifting of interventions could lead to an earlier secondary peak, which could be flattened by relaxing the interventions gradually. However, there are limitations to our analysis, including large uncertainties around estimates of R0 and the duration of infectiousness.”
Verdict
It is safe therefore to say that Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross River was not right about his dismissal of the social distancing as an effective measure against the spread of Covid-19. He has also not provided empirical evidence to support his claim.
THE Nigeria Medical Association, Cross River Branch (NMA CRS) has debunked claims by the health commissioner, Betta Edu, that the State has over 105 medical doctors in active duty, clarifying that only 33 doctors are in the State’s civil service.
In a statement released on Wednesday, signed by the NMA’s state chairman, Agam E. Ayuk and state secretary, Ezoke Epoke, the medical body said Edu’s claim is misleading and a misrepresentation of a critical issue adversely affecting healthcare delivery in Cross River State.
It disclosed that 33 doctors and not 105 are in the state’s civil service, adding that the doctors are also paid lesser salaries than their counterparts in other states.
According to NMA CRS, doctors in the State’s civil service earn only about 50 per cent of what other doctors across the country earn, making Cross River the only state in the country that pays the least salaries to doctors.
The poor pay makes retainment of critical workforce difficult, the association said.
NMA CRS therefore urged the government to do the needful by addressing human capacity lapses in the the State’s medical sector, especially in this COVID-19 period.
The medical body commended the State Government for shutting its borders and reducing chances of coronavirus transmission into the state.
It however warned that the State Government’s policy on the use of face masks as sole protection against the virus is dangerous.
It advised that such a policy will lure the citizens of the State into a false sense of security.
It cited the World Health Organisation (WHO) Interim Guidance, which classifies the use of face masks alone as protection against COVID-19 as insufficient and that facemasks is complementary to social/physical distancing of at least 1 meter.
The recommended action according to WHO is that people avoid mass gatherings, observe effective hand and respiratory hygiene and the cleaning of all contact surfaces.
NMA CRS also criticised the State Government for issuing an order requiring all civil servants from Grade level 10 and above in the state to resume work, describing the action as ill-timed and not in the best public interest of the people.
“The primordial/primary prevention strategy of the State Government is obviously the cheapest, safest and best strategy to adopt considering our peculiar challenges, but could be derailed by this mass resumption of staff that constitutes almost 50% of the workforce. We advise other means of getting critical sectors to work while avoiding mass gatherings because of the risk posed by asymptomatic carriers of the virus and without resources for mass testing of the population,” the statement read in part.
The statement also addressed the lack of an isolation centre. According to NMA CRS, the State has only a 4-bed capacity isolation unit at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, (UCTH), which is ill-equipped.
“UCTH Isolation Centre lacks basic facilities, equipment and accessories based on NCDC specifications. The patient capacity of UCTH Isolation Centre is grossly inadequate.”
THE Kano State Ministry of Health has announced five new additional Covid-19 cases in the state.
Salihu Yakasai, Media aide to Kano State Governor , confirmed this through his official Twitter account on Wednesday.
It will be recalled that Abdullahi Ganduje, Governor of the state had earlier announced a total lock down in Kano State which will take effect from Thursday, April 16.
“From Thursday 16th April by 10 pm Kano is locked down for the benefit of all in the state. All markets are closed and all public gatherings are banned,” Ganduje said.
The governor also confirmed that the index case was in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna before returning to Kano, adding that “when he came back, he visited some places, that are now under our close surveillance.”
“All the places are fumigated,” he said.
However, Yakasai said that the five new confirmed cases were all traced to the index case totaling nine in the state.
Meanwhile, nine patients receiving treatment for coronavirus in Abuja have been discharged after recovering from the disease.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) announced this in a tweet on Wednesday totaling 20 in all.
THE Federal Government has disclosed that People Living with Disabilities (PLWDS) would be considered in the new tranche of palliatives to cushion the effects of lock down on Nigerians.
Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management who disclosed this during a press briefing at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday said those with more than N5000 bank credit in their accounts would be excluded from the support.
She added that the government would also consider Nigerians who load credit units less than N100.
“Well, we have three options; one, we are going to use the National Social Register that we already have; two, we are also going to focus on the urban poor as I mentioned, by using their Verified Biometric Verification Number (BVN) accounts to get them, that is, people that have an account balance of N5,000 and below,” Farouq said.
“We are also using mobile networks to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less. Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable. So, these are the three options that we are exploring and I am sure that by the time we get this data we will be able to give this intervention.”
The support is part of the palliatives introduced by the Federal Government to mitigate likely effects of the COVID-19 lock down, particularly in Ogun, Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It could be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari during his nationwide broadcast on Monday April 13 announced the inclusion of extra 1 million people into the social register.
He directed that the new beneficiaries should be considered in the Conditional Cash Transfer programme currently ongoing across the states.
The Minister emphasised that programme would focus more on the urban poor and largely people in the informal sector.
“These are people who depend on the informal sector to earn their livelihood, they are daily wage earners and these are the people that we are really going to focus more on as well as people living with disabilities,” she added.
Farouq said only 25 percent of the nation’s population would benefit from the programme stressing that it might be later extended to cover more beneficiaries.
“Let me also say that we have a standard; 25 per cent of the total population is what we will take out,” the Minister explained.
“It cannot go round but we are starting from somewhere. Around 25 per cent of let’s say the location of Lagos State for example is what is going to benefit from this intervention that we are doing. Going forward, we might expand it but this is what is obtainable for now.”
WITH over 1.2 million cases, 70,000 deaths and unprecedented global economic disruption reported in less than five months around the world, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) also known as Covid-19 is threatening human existence.
It has ravaged 20 states in Nigeria with over 300 confirmed cases of which Lagos, Abuja and Osun are the worst hit.
While the importation of cases slowed down following the suspension the Nigerian airline operatio, land and sea entry ports, the disease continues to spread within the country.
However, while some drugs have been touted as having potentials to cure the virus including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine which are still in the trial phase, there are warnings that they should not be referred to as a cure yet.
The Covid-19 has crippled global economy and potentially causing another economic melt down, the consequences of which might be too much for Africa countries.
The threat has made the search for the cure more intense.
Claims by monarchs and trado-medical experts
As search for the cure continues, some monarchs, trado-medical experts and traditionalists in Nigeria are already suggesting local solutions.
Prominent among those canvassing for use of alternative medicine to cure coronavirus is the paramount ruler of Ile-Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ile-Ife who ‘claimed’ to have a cure to the SARS-CoV2.
The monarch started the conversation on his Twitter handle on March 30 where he noted that the cure to coronavirus is by putting natural elements together. “It is about time to save the world now. Tomorrow may be too late. Let’s all keep safe,” he said.
He went further to expatiate in the tweets on his position, Ogunwusi maintained that his suggested cure has been tested which has been used for chronic corona patients with testimonials.
He shared two videos of how to prepare the herbs including an incense which according to him is needed to clean the environment.
“PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR GRANTED (The world did with the warning Last Year June). I also challenge researchers both in Nigeria and the world to make these natural herbs into clinical medicine and extract the vaccines from it,” Ooni wrote on his Twitter handle.
To solve this ailment is through natural elements put together above all from nature. It has been tested!!! I have used it and also used it for some of the chronic Corona patients with testimonials.
The Ooni of Ife also disclosed that he was currently working with a popular Nigerian herbal doctor, Yem Kem international for packaging and distribution around the world.
He explained in the videos, how to put the elements together as well mentioning their local and botanical names
The elements to be mixed together include: Ewe-akoko ( boundary tree, botanical name: Newbouldia laevis), Dogoyaro ( nim tree or Indian lilac, botanical name: Azadirachta indica), Alubosa (Onion ,botanical name: Allium cepa), Ogirisako ( Forest anchomanes/Blume, botanical name: Anchomanes difformis), Aidan (Aridan fruit, botanical name: Tetrapleura tetraptera), Eeru or Erinje (African pepper, Guinia pepper, botanical name: Xylopia aethiopica), Ewuro (Bitter leaf, botanical name: Vernonia amygdalina), Iyin ojo (Sulfur).
However, the king received backlash on this acclaimed cure as he did not attach dosage and quantity of each herb to be used neither did he attach any scientific proof to it.
Also, Joseph Akpa, a professor and Provost of Luminar International College of Alternative Medicine, Enugu, also claimed to have a cure for the deadly coronavirus.
The Nigerian professor who challenged health institutions and agencies to bring any known case of Covid-19 to him and see how it would disappear in days claimed that he had already made energy health medicines superficially meant to boost the human immune system and others meant to directly attack the virus to ensure 100 per cent successful cure.
On March 30, Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State tested positive for coronavirus, though he was asymptomatic. After spending five days in isolation, the governor came out on April 5 and tested negative. He claimed to have taken a mixture of black-seed and honey.
“My body temperature is 36.4 degrees. My very good friend and brother, Dr Muyideen Olatunji. He is the one in charge of the Primary Healthcare for Oyo State. He came to me and said, look, I am going to send to you this blackseed oil, it boosts immunity so I mixed it with honey and take one teaspoon in the morning and one in the evening. So, there are local solutions to boost immunity. So, our people should not fret. They shouldn’t fret. Just as I have been able to get the virus out of my system, so will it be for majority of our people,” the governor was quoted as said in a report by the Cable.
There are other reported cases of patients who recovered from the deadly virus after the use of herbs
Despite heavy funding on alternative medicine, government yet to explore its potentials
According to Anthony Elujoba, a professor of Pharmacognosy and two-time acting Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, the Nigerian government has shown little will in implementing the recommendation proffered by experts despite its huge financial commitment and heavy funding on research on alternative herbal medicine.
“Ghana now has a parallel unit in some general hospitals in their country where all they do is to prepare herbal medicine for the patient there,” Elujoba said in an interview with TheICIR.
He disclosed that the Federal Government in 2013 sent a team in which he was a member to Ghana to understudy them.
“They sent us to United Kingdom, two universities are teaching herbal medicine there at degree level. And we got to Ghana, it was the Ghana model that we recommended for the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health,” he said.
“So in Ghana, when a patient comes to the general hospital, he will make a choice of whether going for herbal medicine treatment or orthodox medicine. That started around 2012 and it is still in practice till date in Ghana,” he told The ICIR.
“Our government has what it takes to try herbal medicine, because the government has also committed funds into the study and use of herbal medicine. For example, there is a book we call Pharmacopoeia. The book contains drugs that can be used safely in any country. This government has committed funds to bring it out. ”
Speaking further, the university don noted that the book which is now published has medical plants that can cure respiratory problems.
“In 2008, that book now is a an official book, and medicinal plants that are inside are official. Many of these plants can cure what we call malaria today,” he said.
The Pharmacopoeia book, Elujoba said contains names of plants that can cure respiratory problems noting that many of these plants are immune system modifier.
“This particular book that was launched in 2008, contains immune stimulant that can now be formulated for people that have the virus to boost their immune system, to cure their fever, diarrhea and many other symptoms we have seen of the virus,” he disclosed.
He however wondered “Why the government is still not doing anything, having committed a lot of money. As I am talking to you now, there is a national committee that is reviewing that Pharmacopoeia to have the second volume.”
“The government is spending money to keep us, the members of the committee each time we meet. There are two other committees that came up recently and we have met. The second one is what we call medicinal plant drugs that are approved to be used, we are compiling that now as essential plant drugs that can be used in the hospital.
“This same Federal Government has set up a national committee which I am a member. This committee contains experts, both traditional healers and intellectuals in medicinal plant science and we are recommending medicinal plants for different diseases that can be made official that people can use to compose medicine to finished product level which can be listed by NAFDAC and be used by our people.
“We have met only once but that once, we met for three days and we have brought out beautiful things. In fact, we spoke to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health that day and we also deliberated on Covid-19 and how much herbal medicine can do to reduce a lot of importation. We have gotten several areas of traditional medicine that can be made use of sometimes better than orthodox.”
He submitted that as the Federal Government is spending, same as the international organisations.
According to his explanation, the West African Health Organisation has also committed a lot of money to funding research on alternative medicine.
There are herbal medicines that can ‘cure’ and challenge the symptoms of the present pandemic — Elujoba
Women selling traditional medicines look at piles of leaves, vines and other herbs for sale at Jankara herbal market in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo credit: https://qz.com/africa
The professor of Pharmacognosy maintained that the herbal medicine is not as useless as the government ‘tagged’ it. He believes that there are herbal medicines that can ‘cure’ and challenge the symptoms of the present pandemic.
“As far as my exposure is concerned in the practice of herbal medicine, its research and development, herbal and complimentary medicine is not as useless as people think,” he said.
Elujoba stressed that there are medicinal plants that can challenge most of the symptoms of’ all these deadly diseases.’
“I’m not just talking in abstract, I am talking in practice, I am talking in experience, knowledge, intellectualism, I am not a traditional healer neither a native doctor but I am a scientist of traditional medicine, scientist of herbal medicine. I don’t know why the government is not looking at that side at all, I can not state for the government,” he said.
Elujoba disclosed that there are many medicinal plants that have been tested and used to boost human immune system which, he said can be devised to cure Covid-19.
“In herbal medicine science, we have many plant that can de-congest the airways,whether those plants will kill the virus or not, we cannot ascertain, since we are yet to apply the possible cure,” he said.
“I know many medicinal plants in Africa that can resolve fever. We do not need to buy many of them, even without paying a kobo that (the plant) will resolve malaria instantly without using chlroloquine. It is in the plant that chloroquine resolve itself during synthesis.”
“There are multitude of medicinal plant in our bush that can boost immune system to the surprise of orthodox practice. And most of these plants also have so many other activities that will resolve symptoms of Covid-19 or any other emerging diseases that we have gotten.
“We had Ebola in 2014, and I was asked by Punch if we can find plant to resolve Ebola. I said yes and no. Yes because some of the medicinal plants for Ebola, we have plants that can cure it. But can it eradicate Ebola virus, I would not know, because our system has not provided laboratory to test our medicinal plant extracts directly on the viruses.
“I am a scientist of herbal medicine not a traditional healer not a native doctor, I can only say what I have tested and gotten positively, as a scientist, I can not say what I have not tested in the laboratory, and in practice, until a clinical trial has been done in the hospital.”
“In terms of symptoms we have many medicinal plant that can cure it. Covid-19 has three major symptoms that can trouble those that have gotten it.
One is the respiratory problems, and it is a problem that can heal fast. Anyone that does not breath within seven minute is dead. And we have been told scientifically that this virus blocks the airways, and wont allow people to breath.”
It could be recalled that The ICIR exclusively reported how six patients out of 127 persons under quarantine in Osun State escaped from the isolation center to seek native herbal medicine to cure the Covid-19.
What NAFDAC is doing to bring herbalists and researchers together —Adeyeye
Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that the agency is cooperating with the local herbalists and experts in the field of alternative medicine to have a sustainable and harmonised Nigerian made drugs without heavy importation from China.
This, Adeyeye said, will help conduct enough researches on the acclaimed effective drugs.
“NAFDAC started thinking about alternative medicine about a year ago in terms of general needs not even related to Covid-19,” she said in an interview with The ICIR.
She revealed that the agency started a herbal medicine product committee which brought local herbalists or practitioners together with University professors or researchers all over the country.
The meeting which held in March 2019 had about 72 participants.
“We are doing this in NAFDAC because we have a lot of herbal medicines that work. However, enough of research has not been done on them,” Adeyeye said.
“The herbalist or the practitioner know that some of this medicine or even many of these medicines work, but they can not explain. That is where the researcher comes in. The researcher can do the research, explaining why this is doing this, you know in terms of making the patient better.”
She noted that Nigeria would have made significant impacts with herbal medicine but mistrust between local herbalists and the academic community has been the bane of the progress.
“There is a mistrust between the local herbalists and the academic community or research community,” she said.
“And that mistrust resulted in us not moving forward as a country and Nigeria has lost a lot of money even in the protection of intellectual property. And you know how to make it but we don’t know or we don’t respect intellectual property.”
“Ewuro is now being sold, chewing stick is now on Amazon , you know, Nigeria has lost so much because we turn everything into politic.”
Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC under her watch is bringing the two sides together to forge a way forward in herbal medicine.
“So the reason for starting that is to make sure we consolidate on the effort of our grandfathers, grandmothers and what many of them handed to to us.
“Many of them died with a lot of information in terms of herbal medicine. But in any case, we had another meeting towards the end of the year and what NAFDAC is doing right now is to midwife the coming together of these two groups.”
Light at the end of the tunnel
Osagie Ehanire, Nigerian Minister of Health, has said at a press conference the held in Lagos recently by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 that the Federal Government would consider “serious” stakeholders in traditional medicine in the treatment of the pandemic.
He said those who are serious with the use of local herbs and concoctions would be considered.
“We will look into every assertion. Some people say they have herbs and some others say they have concoctions. Only for those that are serious, the Department of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Ministry of Health will look into their claims and we will not throw away any suggestion,” he said.
“The efficacy and efficiency of these medicines have to be proven first before it is recommended for people.”
He added that different trials are taking place such as “the use of convalescent plasma, which is taken from people that had coronavirus that have been treated successfully.”
The Minister said “these trials are being reviewed and a confirmation will be passed as time goes on.”
“The same goes for hydroxychloroquine. It had been found in some tests to work outside the body, that is ‘in vitro testing’, but the chloroquine that people can swallow needs to be tested to see if it works the same way with the one taken outside the body,” he added.
The minister said the Federal Government is also depending on the World Health Organisation (WHO) like other countries for recommendations on the use of proper medicines to treat coronavirus.
However, stakeholders have continued to question the Federal Government on how soon this consideration will become a reality.
Despite this promise, the Federal Government received medical doctors from China to help in the war against Covid-19
The ICIRreported that these set of 15 Chinese doctors came with drugs, equipment and vaccines. This has generated criticisms from the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) which called for the overhauling of the Nigerian healthcare system.
A Noodles seller in Igwo community of Cross River has been hit by a misfired bullet from men of the Mopol 75 Squad of the Nigerian Police Force, Cross River Command on Tuesday according to reports.
The stray bullet was shot by the police during a face-off with women of Igwo community in Obudu local government area of the state.
The yet-to-be-identified noodles seller who was present at the scene of the clash has been reported to be undergoing treatment in a medical facility in the state.
An eye witness told CrossRiverwatch that men of the police fired bullets and tear gas at the protesting women who stripped naked to express their register their displeasure.
“As at the time I left there around 9:30PM, the shooting continued and the Mopol had also fired tear gas with the women stripping bare,” the eyewitness said.
Ushe Adie, another eyewitness at the scene said the protesting women threw stones into the compound shattering a window pane which resulted into the police’ shooting.
“The women were said to have thrown stones into the compound and shattered a window pane which some are saying really infuriated the Mopol men,” another eyewitness, Adie said.
According to reports, the women of the community are protesting a mass arrest by the mobile police which was followed by the alleged killing of community head.
The women also alleged that the mobile police squad had razed thebuilding of the Igwo clan head due to land disagreement.
The disagreements ensued over a purpoted payment of compensations by the state government for plots of land meant for the construction of a cargo airport in the community.
