The call for homegrown technology and health care intervention was the key message from the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II during is his recent tour of the six southwestern states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti.
The highly respected monarch during his visit to the states donated locally-made modular motorized fumigators and drones for aerial fumigation to complement the efforts of government at combating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic disease that is ravaging lives across the globe.
He reiterated that there is no better time than now to look inward for solutions to our numerous challenges as a nation and that the COVID 19 pandemic has shown that there is a limit to what we can achieve by depending on other nations of the world as the global lockdown has shown.
In Nigeria today, the general consensus among the citizens is that despite the commendable recent efforts of our health workers, a lot of investment and research needs to be made towards improving our health care capacity to reduce the high rate of medical tourism of our people outside the country.
The Ooni through philanthropic gesture to the states has shown exemplary leadership not just for supporting the fight against the covid-19 pandemic, but also for his commitment to promoting local production and innovations in the country.
While making the donation of locally made fumigators to the governor of Lagos State he used the opportunity to charge other Nigerians to look beyond palliatives by coming up with more local solutions to save lives during and after the COVID-19.
According to him, “our people should look inward for solutions that are social and local as the present situation calls for home-grown interventions to support our doctors and other frontline warriors,” the monarch said.
The Ooni, during his tour of the six states, also made it known that he had been struggling to provide a traditional cure for COVID-19 alongside the traditional medicine practitioners in Nigeria. He said, “We are going to proffer the local cure for coronavirus very soon; we are at an advanced stage with the traditional medicine practitioners in Nigeria”.
He added that our leaders have to be pragmatic in finding a solution, “I am very happy that the same thing that we are talking about in Nigeria, another sister country, Madagascar, has taken it upon themselves and even the US government, they have even reached out to them for funding.”
While expressing his confidence in our local technology as the way forward for the country, he explained that the fumigator machines locally fabricated by the ‘House of Oduduwa Machine Tools’ are environmentally-friendly. He stated that the equipment converts the liquid sanitizer to fog, travels faster, and stays longer to fight Corona and any other virus in the community.
He had earlier thrown a challenge to local medical practitioners to explore the use of available herbs in the country as a possible solution to the various health challenges.
According to him, the following herbs are potent enough to heal anyone down with the virus: Boundary tree leaves (Botanical name- Newbouldia laevis, Yoruba – Ewe Akoko), Neem leave and fruits or Indian lilac (Botanical – Azadirachta indica, Yoruba- ewe dogoyaro), onion (Botanical name – Allium cepa; Yoruba – Alubosa), forest anchomanes (Botanical name – Anchomanes difformis, Yoruba -Ogirisako); aridan (Botanical name – Tetrapleura tetraptera) African pepper/Ngero pepper/Guinea pepper (Botanical name – Xylopia aethiopica, Yoruba Eeru or Erinje); Bitter leaf (Botanical name – Vernonia amygdalina, Yoruba – Ewuro, Sulfur (Yoruba – Iyin Ojo).
Although there is no scientific proof that herbs have or will work against coronavirus, this is a lead that we must look into as we begin to look inward for solutions to our social and economic challenges.
He is of the opinion that Nigerians must be proactive, and that as the global search for the cure for coronavirus continues, the country must be actively involved; government and organizations must support and collaborate in the search for the solution at home.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, during the donation of Motorized Modular Fumigators to the Lagos State Government by the Ooni of Ife, to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the State, at Lagos House, Marina.
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Motorized Modular Fumigator donated to the Lagos State Government by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, at Lagos House, Marina.