The federal government says the country’s medicinal plants remain largely underutilized, undervalued, and insufficiently integrated into the mainstream health and economic systems.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja while inaugurating the ministerial committee on the development of the phytomedicine value chain.
He said Nigeria is blessed with vast biodiversity and the traditional use of medicinal plants and natural medicine to treat and manage various ailments.
He said, “Yet, this enormous resource has remained as part of the current administration’s commitment to universal health coverage, economic diversification, and job and wealth creation, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is advancing the Phytomedicine Value Chain Initiative. This is not just a health policy; it is also a socio-economic policy.”
The minister said it was envisaged the commercialisation of the phytomedicine value chain would provide jobs in the area of conservation, cultivation and harvesting of medicinal plants; and the production of herbal medicinal products locally at the industrial scale.
He said this would ensure Nigeria’s participation in the fast-growing global market for herbal medicinal products and its contribution to our national economy.
He further said the establishment of the ministerial committee was a strategic step towards realizing a sustainable and globally competitive phytomedicine industry in Nigeria.
He said the committees’ terms of reference include to develop a comprehensive framework for the commercialization of phytomedicine products in Nigeria, to propose policy reforms and regulatory mechanisms that will enable an enabling business environment for phytomedicine commercialization, while ensuring patient safety and efficacy standards, among others.
The Director General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRID), Dr Obi Adigwe, said the global phytomedicine market is fast approaching $500 million, adding that it is unacceptable for a country as richly endowed as Nigeria to continue playing at the periphery of this strategic sector.
He said already, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu had given the health sector the highest priority, with the Presidential Initiative to Unlock Value Chains, and the recent Presidential Executive Order on Pharma and Allied Sectors.
He said the ministerial committee leveraged this political will to commercialise the country ‘s phytomedicines in a manner that is sustainable, competitive, multi-faceted and inclusive.
He added that over the years, NIPRD had not only conceptualised but also operationalised evidence-based approaches for harnessing these natural resources.