NLC Advocates for Herbal Medicine as Key to Boosting Nigeria’s Economy, Healthcare

Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has urged for serious research into herbal medicine in Nigeria and its inclusion into the country’s mainstream health system to improve access to healthcare and the economy.

Ajaero said this when he and other NLC national leaders welcomed the Congress’s newest member, the National Association of Herbal Medicine Employers (NAHME), who were in Labour House Abuja to formally exhibit their certificate of registration and announce their membership.

In his remarks, the Congress president emphasized the necessity for the federal government to investigate herbal medicine as an alternative to conventional care.

He also stated that herbal medicine has the potential to produce billions of Naira for the country through exports.

He also emphasized the importance of the government establishing herbal hospitals to help legitimate traditional medicine inside the country’s healthcare system.

He emphasized the efficacy of herbal medicine, which is ingrained in Nigerian culture, and its importance in addressing indigenous health issues.

The Comrade President voiced worry over the country’s dependency on imported drugs in the face of foreign exchange issues, recommending the development of local herbal cures as a more sustainable alternative.

He also advocated for ethical methods and peer-reviewed research in the field to maintain standards and assure therapy efficacy.

In his words; “We understand the importance of herbal medicine but it is still a vague area that we need to explore especially for a country like Nigeria, where the economy is not booming.

“Ordinarily, we should explore this herbal medicine or alternative medicine as they will call it, to the extent that it will be a revenue earner for the country, that we will be exporting our drugs to other countries, and that people can be coming into the country for treatment with our own drugs, he stated.

Ajaero said further: “That this issue of herbal medicine and alternative medicine is being regulated was part of the problems we inherited from the whites.

When they came in here, our religion, our way of life, our way of dressing, everything went down.

But, from independence, Nigerians have started going back to their roots. And I do not see why we should not go back to our roots.

“If herbal medicine or alternative medicine is explored in Nigeria, Nigeria will be making trillions through exports of these drugs, and that is an area that I would tell the Nigerian government, that since they are thinking of ways of diversifying the economy, they consider exploring it adequately.

“The potency of herbal medicine is not in doubt. There are elements that you can not trace their genealogy to English culture. It is rooted in Nigerian culture.