The National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) has decried states’ low investments in the development of herbal medicines, especially now that the world clamours for treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 and other related disease outbreaks.

The Director-General of the NIPRD, Dr Obi Adigwe, who stated these in a chat with reporters as part of activities to mark this year’s African Traditional Medicine Day, in Abuja, advocated for the establishment of dedicated farms for the cultivation and processing of herbal medicinal plants in the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

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He said: “The Governors need to understand the potential that is in their backyard.  This is because a simple phytomedicine project in their states will ensure that one million farmers, one million local women, one million youth are actively engaged in jobs and the products will yield output which can be exported or sold in the market once it gets NAFDAC registration.

“There is no state in Nigeria that does not have plants that have potential to generate high-quality pharmaceutical products as well as to earn revenue. But many of these state governors are just being lazy looking for ready-made subvention from the government whereas the gold that is in their backyard which if harnessed will create jobs for their citizenry is just lying there doing nothing.”

“It is on record that the number of plants in Nigeria that have ethnomedicinal and ethnobotanical potentials runs in thousands and less than 10 per cent of them has been harnessed. And these potential exist in every region and every state of the federation.