Author: The Nation

The newly-appointed Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), Prof Martins Emeje, has vowed to use his accumulated wealth of experience and several years of acquired expertise in drug research and manufacturing to reposition herbal medicine research, development and patronage with a view to integrating traditional medicines into overall healthcare delivery system in the country.

 Emeje, who was the head of Ultra-Modern Biology/Chemistry Laboratory in the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) before joining NNMDA as D-G in May, made the promise when Pharm Onyeka Onyeibor, Managing Director of Evans Baroque Limited, a leading pharmaceutical healthcare company with global partnerships and a vast presence in West Africa, paid a courtesy visit to the agency’s head office last Friday in Lagos.

 A distinguished professor of Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine, Emeje said he came into office fully prepared with a ready roadmap and action plan to help Nigeria reposition the traditional medicine sub-sector. After itemising achievements and breakthroughs NNMDA has recorded so far in herbal medicine research and development, Emeje said research findings recognised by the World Health Organisation have showed that nothing less than 70 per cent of people in the developing world rely on herbal medicines for their overall wellness. He added that, since millions of Nigerians depend on natural medicines because of affordability, availability, insufficiency of orthodox medicine, and religious/cultural beliefs, it means that herbal medicine market is a goldmine waiting to be tapped in order to improve people’s quality of life and boost the nation’s economy to the boot. The NNMDA boss listed products such as Amarus Herbal Tea for prevention and management of malaria, herbal mosquito repellant, dual action indoor residual spray and air freshener formulated as an insecticide and air freshener, as well as Ocimum Herbal Tea for management of diabetes, among others, produced by the agency for public consumption.

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 In his slide presentation witnessed by Evans Baroque Limited team as well as the agency staff and management, the NNMDA boss said he applied for the job because  he passionately believes that the traditional medicine subsector holds the master key to the much-desired future of Nigeria’s healthcare delivery and economic greatness. While analysing the opportunities inherent in the sector, Prof Emeje noted that natural medicine, with its associated bio-resources, is a strategic sector that can be used as a tool for the overall development of the country, starting from the natural improvement of health, simulation of small and medium scale agro-business, small scale product  industries in health, raw materials and a feedstock to the global knowledge economy in research and product development.

 In his response, Onyeibor tasked the agency to work on some of the challenges impeding the development of the sector so that resources such as traditional medicine knowledge products and technology can be transformed into innovative and commercialisable products for the prevention of diseases and benefit of Nigerians. He also promised to collaborate with the agency in the area of product research funding and training, among other possible partnerships.

 Also, NNMDA, in another meeting with the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), the agency scored the bull’s eye. The meeting ended with the USP agreeing to partner the agency in the development of dietary supplements using indigenous medicinal plants resources like Moringa and others; while NNMDA is to coordinate the development of phyto-pharmacopoeia in Africa as the agency plans to expand its ISO 17025 accreditation to cover more scope – all aided by the USP team, which vows to support the aforementioned plans and give all necessary guidance in achieving success. In another strategic engagement meeting with Aberdeen Commercial, the agency has secured a promise, which involves Aberden to develop standard operational roadmaps covering short, medium and long term goals, and also carry out intensive in-house training for all NNMDA staff on standard operation.

 The new NNMDA boss obtained his BPharm (with distinction) from Ahmadu Bello University, and MPharm and Ph.D. from the University of Nigeria (UNN), where he received the best Ph.D. award and was enlisted as UNN’s “Face of Research.” He established the first nanomedicine centre in Nigeria and was the pioneer head of the intellectual property and technology transfer as well as the WIPO’s technology innovation and support centre (TISC). The D-G, who has published more than 150 articles and patents, is also the Head of R&D at NIPRD; he holds a visiting professor position at Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

Health Management Organisations (HMOs) have agreed to work with President Bola Tinubu to implement the new Health Act. The new Health Act stipulates that health insurance be made mandatory for all Nigerians. Consequently, it is expected that all Nigerians, including those in the informal sector, are enrolled on health insurance. The old Act only made it compulsory for those in the public sector.

 Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Ultimate Health Management Services (UHMS), a leading HMO in the country, Dr. Lekan Ewenla, Managing Director of Ultimate Health, said HMOs are prepared to work with the new administration to ensure that the insurance scheme works. “We are going to, as an organisation and as a body in the health insurance space, work closely with the government to ensure that we support and we achieve what we are going to achieve. So what the regulator is doing now is developing the official framework to ensure that the managing nature of this law is not just left on the paper on the table. What the Federal Government has done in the last five years was to begin to address healthcare from the perspective of demand and supply such that now they have deployed fund on a yearly basis.”

Also speaking at the event, Mrs. Angela Ajala, Chairman, Ultimate Health, said the organisation is working with relevant stakeholders to bring everybody on board. “We brought up the fact that the business is green and is doing well, especially with the bill, which has opened up the market for leading HMOs to make sure that every Nigerian is captured in the health management’s care and that no Nigerian should ever be sick and denied treatment because he/she has no money to access healthcare. And so we’re taking it beyond what it is now; we are reaching out to all the nooks and crannies. And we’re meeting with the relevant stakeholders to bring everybody on board – students, workers, professionals – but get to everybody; that’s our target.”

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 The Tinubu administration inherited decades of failed promises to shore up national funding for health to at least 15 per cent of the annual national budget, with a primary healthcare system that is largely decrepit, general hospitals that are short-staffed and of poor capacity, and teaching hospitals that are badly hit by unabated exit of essential health workers out of the country. In Nigeria, roughly 90 per cent of the population are overburdened by out-of-pocket expenditure, a sad reality that manifests more when treating chronic illnesses with exorbitant cost of treatment.

 During the campaigns, President Tinubu had promised holistic actions that would focus on strengthening healthcare systems, promoting preventive healthcare, widening access to improved quality of care and ensuring access to essential medicines and skilled healthcare professionals. To achieve the goal of universal health coverage, he has set a target to cover a minimum of 87 million or 40 percent of Nigerians within two years by implementing the mandatory national health insurance scheme. The planned expansion in healthcare coverage, he said, would be achieved by increasing the financing available for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund and the Vulnerable Group Fund that was recently established by former President Muhammadu Buhari to insure the health of vulnerable Nigerians.