- The federal government is said to be ready to invest money into herbal medicine production in Nigeria
- This was stated by the minister of science and technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu
- The federal government's aim is to solve problems of unemployment and poverty in the country
The minister of science and technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has assured of the federal government's readiness to invest money into herbal medicine production in Nigeria in order to solve problems of unemployment and poverty in the country.
The disclosure was made by the minister during a one-day working visit to the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) in Lagos.
The minister said the federal government is committed to making sure that many of the things imported into the country are produced in Nigeria, The Sun reports.
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Legit.ng gathers that Onu said if products usually imported into the country were produced locally, it would provide job opportunities.
He said: “We want to make sure many of the things we import into the country are produced in Nigeria. If we achieve that, it will help us provide job opportunities; so when people graduate from school – whether secondary, polytechnic or university, they will have jobs. And it will help us fight poverty.
“A family, father and mother can start some of these things that we’ve seen here and that is how they’ll be making money and contributing to the growth of the nation."
According to NNMDA director general, Dr Sam Etatuvie, one of the ways to achieve the local production of herbal medicines is through training.
He said: “We do trainings for the practitioners across the country because they are the original owners of the traditional medicine knowledge.
“They’ve been passing down this knowledge from generation to generation and many of them are dying.
“We need to train the younger ones and those people to document their traditional medicine knowledge.
“If you do that, you’ll be able to use that to formulate products."
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari said the implementation of the federal government’s Made in Nigeria for Exports (MINE) would generate 30 billion dollars and create 1.5 million jobs by 2025.
The president stated this at the signing of agreement between Nigeria Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Investment Company and Strategic Investment Partners at the State House, Abuja on Friday, February 8.
MINE is a presidential special priority intervention programme implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, but under Buhari’s direct supervision.
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Source: Legit