Apparently fascinated by the healing powers in herbs and roots, Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was taken round the premises of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN). The task of doing this fell on Ibraheem Oduola Lawal. Lawal holds a doctorate in Ethnobotany from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa and is the Director, Biomedicinal Research Centre of FRIN. One of the places Senator Tinubu was taken to was FRIN’s massive forest wherein a portion for research on herbs is designated. Asked how many species of medicinal plants were housed inside that designated forest, Lawal told the First Lady that it contains over 1250 species. An excited Senator Tinubu couldn’t hide her pride and wonderment at this wonderful contribution that FRIN was making to orthodox medicine in Nigeria. In fact, fascinated, she echoed, “So this is the healing garden! This is for health!” She further asked what each of the plants were used for and when told, overwhelmed, she told Lawal and his team how interested she was in herbal medicine.
Herbal medicine has been with man from time immemorial. Ancient cultures and practices are the origin of a healing practice that is as old as man. The rationale is, thrust into a world for which it has no explanation and desirous of explaining it and forging existence from it, man simply sought his own explanation of the world. This explanation ranged from the medical, architectural to other existential searches. Faced with sicknesses and diseases and unable to seek a stoppage to them, man initially began by conjecturing on the healing process. Eventually, overtime, he found out that each leaf in the forest was curative and that Providence created the forest for the usage of man. Since then, herbal medicine has involved the medicinal use of plants to treat diseases, as well as its deployment for the enhancement of his general health and wellbeing.
Gradually, modern medicine evolved from this understanding. It then began a modernization of herbs to create pharmaceutical drugs and medications which are in actual fact man’s usage of plants for his health benefits. An example of creative pharmaceutical usage of drugs can be seen in the heart medicine called digitalis which got derived from the foxglove plant.
Though traditional herbal medicine has intervened admirably in cure and management of ailments since the days of traditional Africa, the sudden COVID-19 pandemic was indeed a testy time for herbal medicine. Over 45,000 deaths in 160 countries of the world were recorded. Its management by both orthodox and unorthodox medicines realized that Severe acute respiratory snndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was the main cause pandemic of the coronavirus disease.
Herbal medicine then took a journey into itself during that pandemic. Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi was one of those who came out to advocate return to herbal medicine for cure to the pandemic. Before then, as stated earlier, for centuries, herbal products and dietary plants were deployed by traditional healers, Babalawo, Sangoma or Dibia to attack and cure the various diseases that ranged from cancer, fibroid to the lowest ailments like headache. Inside the forests reside important and efficacious medicinal plants that have anti-viral activity. This is used by the healers to cure viral infections and which are prescribed as supportive treatment. Researches into the efficacy of herbal medicine during that pandemic era revealed that it could interfere with COVID-19 pathogenesis and this it does by inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication as well as the entry into host cells. Medicinal plant species that possess antiviral medicinal plant reagents used in this regard ranged from citrus Spp., orange (C. Sinensis), Allium sativum, Allium cepa, Mentha piperita, to nigella sativa which panned out as the most consulted herbs for herbal drink or fruit. They were herbs with properties that can introduce effective adjuvant components in the management of COVID-19.
Nigeria didn’t lag behind in the combat against the pandemic with herbal treatment. One organization that was at the forefront of this was FRIN which played a significant role in that regard. Its Director, Biomedicinal Research Centre, was core in the task. An interview granted to IETV by Dr. Lawal was one of his outreaches during this time explaining the interventions of FRIN. In the said interview, Lawal said that the bark, roots and leaves of some designated herbs were used by his crew of herbal researchers during this global pandemic period. He also said that his research crew used hydrotherapy, a herbal method that had been in practice for generations in traditional African medicine to treat COVID-19. Not only are the herbs used for the treatment of COVID-19 and other ailments locally sources, they are said to be effective in treatment of divers ailments.
“In addition, we made progress at the Biomedicinal Medicine Research Centre in FRIN Ibadan here. We came out with a novel herbal hands sanitizer with a component made up of herbs. It was one of our researches into COVID-19,” he said. In the process, the Lawal-led Biomedicinal Research Centre, in making use of forest resources, also came out with a herbal drug called Co-vitone which is believed to have helped tremendously in the treatment of the pandemic. Said Lawal further, “It is based on the knowledge that we have been working on in different medicine plants to treat different ailments.”
A 2004 graduate of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where he had a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry and Wildlife Management, Lawal also had a Master’s Degree in Pharmacognosy from the University of Ibadan and has the South African Quality Control Assurance certificate (SAQA) with research interests in areas like Design of a standard herbal garden, Genetically study and breeding of endangered medicinal plants, Ethnobotany/Economic Botany/Ethnoforestry, Isolation of plants bioactive compounds and Invitro experimental protocols: Antimicrobial studies and phytopharmacological assays.
The commissioned projects Lawal has handled include, Development of Herbal mixture for the management of COVID-19 symptoms; Development of Herbal based hand sanitizer, a hand disinfectant; Discovery of plants for The Treatment of High Blood Pressure and the output is the products Named BP care from Biomedicinal Research Centre; Design and supervision of a project on vermicast, a potential agent for the treatment of neuro-related diseases, the output was published in 2018; Research and development on production of herbal drugs and ointments such as: Prosta care tea, anti-fungal cream, essential oils among others; Establishments of 5Ha of specialized medicinal plants in FRIN, Investigations on plants and vermicast for the treatment of cancer using Drosophylla, which is in Progress and Investigation into plants for the treatment of prostate enlargement, Isolation and characterization of Oukobakaaumbrevelli as a potential anti carcinogenic agents, which are also in progress.
Asked to say something about himself, Lawal said: “I am an experienced and highly motivated individual with diverse and intensive skills in forest resources conservation, environmental science, phytomedicine, herbal drug design and development. My experiences also include isolation of bioactive compounds, curriculum development, teaching and supervision. I am a committed team player with leadership skills and high standards of man management, research skills and excellent communication to establish positive research procedures, development and interpersonal relationships. My work experience and education to date have instilled a disciplined framework.”
Adedayo is a member of editorial board of the Nigerian Tribune.
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