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18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2019<br />
IN other countries the news that<br />
“trillions” of naira were wasted in the<br />
past ten to twenty years on the socalled<br />
“constituency projects” of the<br />
National Assembly should have<br />
brought outraged and angry citizens<br />
to the streets. But in Nigeria, massive<br />
public sector corruption is no longer<br />
news, which is very sad!<br />
As usual, we are not even given<br />
enough credible information to know<br />
how much the nation has lost through<br />
the constituency projects which are<br />
meant to extend Federal-funded<br />
amenities to local communities to<br />
justify federal representation by<br />
members of the Senate and the House<br />
of Representatives.<br />
In July 2019, Chairman of the<br />
Independent Corrupt Practices and<br />
Other Related Offences Commission,<br />
ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, told a<br />
gathering of quantity surveyors in<br />
Abuja that its tracking of the National<br />
Assembly’s constituency projects in 12<br />
states proved that they had made<br />
Rethinking the constituency projects issue<br />
almost zero impact at the grassroots,<br />
though they gulped “about” two<br />
trillion naira since 2000.<br />
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari<br />
informed another forum recently<br />
organised by the ICPC that the one<br />
trillion naira spent on constituency<br />
projects in the past decade with zero<br />
impact proved that the appropriation<br />
was wasteful.<br />
However, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, a<br />
member of the House of<br />
Representatives, countered that<br />
though amounts were actually<br />
appropriated, only 40 to 50 per cent<br />
of the budgets were released for the<br />
projects.<br />
The truth is that lawmakers do not<br />
execute the contracts. Rather, they are<br />
often allowed to nominate contractors<br />
while the Executive takes charge of<br />
contract delivery. In view of this, it is<br />
obvious that both the Legislative and<br />
Executive arms of the Federal<br />
Government have questions to answer<br />
as to their roles in this colossal waste.<br />
This is where the absolute<br />
professional handling of this probe by<br />
the ICPC is called to play.<br />
We commend the Commission for<br />
taking the initiative of auditing these<br />
constituency projects, but we also urge<br />
it to desist from the temptation of<br />
joining to play politics with the effort.<br />
For instance, it would be helpful and<br />
useful to the public if the ICPC is able<br />
to painstakingly establish the total<br />
amounts actually released for these<br />
projects by the Executive rather than<br />
focusing on the amount budgeted,<br />
which is misleading.<br />
It is also curious that the National<br />
Assembly members had kept mute for<br />
nearly 20 years when the promise of<br />
constituency projects could not be<br />
delivered due to alleged poor funding<br />
by the Executive.<br />
Under a proper Federal system, the<br />
central government has no business<br />
sinking boreholes and building public<br />
toilets for local communities. These<br />
are the jobs of states and local<br />
governments. Besides, it is very<br />
difficult for the Federal Government<br />
to monitor these mushroom projects<br />
to ensure implementation.<br />
The fund for constituency projects<br />
should be invested in Federal<br />
infrastructure.<br />
OPINION<br />
Traditional medicine, an alternative goldmine<br />
By YUSUF HASSAN WADA<br />
FOR many, especially in developing<br />
countries, traditional medicine is<br />
their first choice of remedy for any adverse<br />
health condition. This is particularly true<br />
for those living in remote or marginalised<br />
areas, where distance and cost are barriers<br />
to orthodox treatment. From my<br />
interactions with people from different<br />
cultures, professions and social actors on<br />
the subject of traditional medicine, certain<br />
answers have become inevitable. This is<br />
because some people have<br />
misconceptions and or convictions about<br />
the field of traditional medicine that need<br />
to be unmasked to ascertain their veracity.<br />
No single answer had a counter-narrative<br />
that it was a medicine that originated from<br />
plants which were first used traditionally.<br />
In Africa, medicinal plants also called<br />
botanical medicine, herbal medicine or<br />
phytomedicine have been used for<br />
centuries to treat different types of<br />
diseases. Plants have been the primary<br />
source of most medicines in the world, and<br />
they continue to provide mankind with<br />
new remedies. Nigeria, with its rich<br />
medicinal plant resources, a country that<br />
has a surfeit of fruits, herbs and vegetables<br />
is expected to have the healthiest people<br />
on earth. We also could have become a<br />
leader in the field of drug discovery.<br />
The world’s global market for medicinal<br />
plants generates billions of dollars and the<br />
figure keeps growing yet, Nigeria is not<br />
benefiting. The few products developed<br />
so far are yet to be integrated into the<br />
essential drug list for use by orthodox<br />
doctors. Before the introduction of orthodox<br />
medicine, Nigerians relied mainly on local<br />
herbal medicines. However, a major<br />
obstacle to the use of African medicinal<br />
plants are their poor quality control and<br />
safety. Besides, traditional medical<br />
practices are still shrouded in secrecy, with<br />
few reports or documentations of adverse<br />
reactions.<br />
About three-quarters of the world’s<br />
population currently uses herbs and other<br />
forms of traditional medicines to treat<br />
disease, according to the World Health<br />
Organisation. In the US and Europe, the<br />
market is highly regulated and extremely<br />
difficult to enter, as companies need to<br />
pass through rigorous tests before mass<br />
production. In Nigeria, there is arable land<br />
that can be cultivated for medicinal plants<br />
with a potential job creation potential that<br />
can open a new window for economic<br />
growth, yet there has been no<br />
encouragement and regulations.<br />
Karabonde village, New Bussa, is the<br />
headquarters of Borgu Local Government<br />
of Niger State. The area is rich and blessed<br />
with natural resources while one of its<br />
natural resources is the availability of fertile<br />
land for agriculture. It is a resettlement<br />
town brought about by the construction of<br />
the first hydro electricity dam, the largest<br />
on the Niger River and one of the longest<br />
in the world. Traditional/herbal medicines<br />
in the area have impacted the lives of<br />
people.<br />
At the national physique garden in<br />
Karabonde Village, there is a great<br />
potential in drugs development that has<br />
enabled the society to promote health, to<br />
guard against illnesses and to cure<br />
diseases. While strolling the place with a<br />
taxonomist, a traditional medicine<br />
practitioner and a focal person, one<br />
observed the presence of diverse medicinal<br />
plants for treating of different ailments,<br />
active ingredients, that could be developed<br />
possibly because of their accessibility,<br />
affordability, and acceptability to the local<br />
society.<br />
Years back, a group of research scientists<br />
had come out with a groundbreaking study<br />
We need a national advisory<br />
committee on traditional<br />
medicine and endorsement of<br />
the national traditional<br />
medicine policy<br />
that may lead to the discovery of a drug<br />
for cancer cure from medicinal plants in<br />
Nigeria. The team, led by an erudite<br />
scholar and researcher, Marte Hussaini, a<br />
professor of pharmacology at the University<br />
of Maiduguri, identified eight local herbs<br />
or plants that are more efficacious than the<br />
drugs currently being used in the treatment<br />
of cancer.<br />
In 2015, Hussaini presented one of his<br />
latest research findings to the Nigerian<br />
Academy of Science at the induction<br />
ceremony of Fellows in Abuja where he<br />
stated that some Nigerian herbal plants<br />
are more efficacious than the current drugs<br />
Send Opinions & Letters to:<br />
opinions1234@yahoo.com<br />
used in cancer treatments. In 2014, the<br />
World Health Organisation, WHO, passed<br />
a resolution on the integration of traditional<br />
medicine into the global health care<br />
delivery system. The organisation sees this<br />
as a veritable strategy for building a<br />
knowledge base that could enhance<br />
policies, strengthen quality assurance,<br />
safety and use of traditional medicine. It<br />
also called for creation of a national<br />
database that would prescribe how these<br />
herbal and medicinal plants can be used.<br />
The traditional medicine policy for<br />
Nigeria needs to be reviewed, endorsed<br />
and implemented. We need a national<br />
advisory committee on traditional medicine<br />
and endorsement of the national traditional<br />
medicine policy. We also need the<br />
development of green form for reporting<br />
traditional medicine related adverse events<br />
to establish and strengthen regulatory<br />
systems by identifying and supporting<br />
qualified practitioners and protecting the<br />
public against potentially harmful<br />
practices.<br />
NAFDAC and other relevant agencies<br />
should step up their regulatory<br />
mechanisms to make Nigeria’s herbal<br />
products meet good manufacturing<br />
practices and global standards. As Nigeria<br />
strives to achieve universal health<br />
coverage, UHC, it’s time to promote a<br />
dialogue of understanding to revive,<br />
harmonize and scientifically integrate<br />
Nigerian traditional medicine with modern<br />
medicine to ensure quality health services<br />
and practicing.<br />
•Wada, a social commentator, wrote<br />
from Usmanu Danfodiyo University<br />
Sokoto
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