Nigeria did not place any order for the purchase of Covid-19 herbal product from Madagascar. Rather, the country accepted a donation from a brotherly African country in recognition of its efforts in finding a solution to the dreaded Corona virus disease ravaging the world.
According to the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), President Mohammadu Buhari, in accepting the offer, had also ordered that the said COVID-19 ORGANIC from Madagascar be subjected to all necessary analyses to authenticate its efficacy and safety before being used to treat patients.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said it has become necessary to correct the erroneous impression being peddled by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), particularly “its recent jaundiced press statement alleging that the Buhari administration is purchasing COVID-19 organic from Madagascar”.
BMO chided PDP for undermining the various efforts of the current administration in managing and combating the novel coronavirus disease since its outbreak in the country.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has been leading from the front in the fight against Covid-19 in the country, with the application of wisdom and intellect, the type of which was lacking in PDP’s 16 years of maladministration and endemic corruption. He has put in place robust and far-reaching measures, as well as judicious use of human, material and financial resources to confront coronavirus headlong.
“At this point when all hands are to be on deck in confronting this common enemy of the world, PDP, as usual, has continued to play its politics of irresponsibility, and politicising COVID 19.
“The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 regularly informs Nigerians at the daily briefings on the state of coronavirus in the country, that government is open to local herbal remedies in treating coronavirus patients, once such products go through necessary clinical procedures for validation in line with international best practices.
“It is worthy of note that the Federal Ministry of Health had recently directed the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control( NAFDAC) to take a look at a particular herbal cough medication, while the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Department of the Ministry had already shortlisted not less than 10 herbal medicines for validation, based on required procedures”.
BMO also directed Nigerians’ attention to NAFDAC”s efforts under the leadership of its Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who has been having a series of meetings with some herbal medicine practitioners and others who have been laying claims to the efficacy of their products in treating COVID 19 patients.
BMO, therefore called on Nigerians not to buy into misformation and fake news being peddled around by the PDP, and continue to support the government in combatting Covid19 in the country.
