The Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) has called for a renewed commitment to Nigerian-made herbal medicine, urging Nigerians to reduce their dependence on imported traditional medicines from countries such as China and India.

This call was made at the weekend at the AB Pharmaceuticals Business Summit organised by ABUAD in collaboration with pharmaceutical marketers.

No fewer than three pharmaceutical products of the University including the AB Mal, ABUAD Virucidine and AB Health Animation 250mg, were unveiled as part of efforts to expand the reach of products developed by the university.

The University said Nigeria’s continued reliance on foreign herbal products, despite the country’s indigenous medicinal resources and growing research capacity, amounted to a form of economic and medical dependence that must be urgently addressed.

ABUAD said the country must develop confidence in locally produced medicines, strengthen scientific research into traditional remedies and establish effective marketing strategies to make Nigerian products competitive in the domestic market.

Speaking at the summit, the Deputy Director of AB Pharmaceutical Services, Afolabi Oluwatoyin, said the initiative was driven by the university founder’s vision of ensuring that Nigerians could increasingly rely on medicines developed and produced within the country.

Oluwatoyin said the ultimate objective was not merely commercial profit but a broader commitment to local pharmaceutical development, research and national self-reliance.

According to her, Nigeria has continued to patronise imported traditional medicines while locally developed alternatives struggle to secure comparable public acceptance and market penetration.

She argued that the country needed a deliberate shift in attitude towards locally developed medicines, adding that effective marketing partnerships would be essential to achieving the objective.

Her words, “The ultimate reason we are here today is to establish a marketing plan that will help us take these products to the Nigerian people.

“We have served the Indians enough, and we have served the Chinese enough. We have embraced different forms of multilevel marketing and imported their traditional medicines, while Nigerians continue to work hard to promote these foreign products.

“It is time for a revolution and a revolution does not necessarily require a crowd. Sometimes, it takes one determined individual to change the world. We have seen people change the course of history, including in South Africa and we believe that a similar change can begin here.

“The aim of Aare Afe Babalola in developing ABUAD pharmaceutical products is not money. We all know that money is not his ultimate motivation. His vision is for Nigeria to begin treating its people with medicines produced locally.

“Before the advent of orthodox doctors, our people relied on traditional medicines, including those derived from local resources and these medicines served them. However, we have yet to embrace our own products with the same enthusiasm with which we promote Chinese medicines and other foreign alternatives.

“That is why we are here today: to establish a business relationship with HAPMA and other stakeholders that will help promote ABUAD pharmaceutical products and change the mindset of Nigerians. We want our people to stop depending excessively on Chinese and Indian medicines when we have the capacity to develop and promote our own products.

“If you knew the volume of imported medicines entering Nigeria every day, you would be amazed. A significant amount of our economic resources goes into purchasing foreign products. We must begin to reverse this trend by investing in, producing and marketing medicines developed in Nigeria”.

In her welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Smaranda Olarinde also emphasised on the need to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported pharmaceutical products.

She noted it’s high time the country created an ecosystem in which the University, industry, regulators, healthcare professionals, investors and consumers work together to move promising innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace.

In his response, the Chairman of Association of Pharmaceutical Products Marketers of Nigeria (APPMAN), Ekiti State, Peter Ajayi hailed Afe Babalola for his exemplary vision in all fields, saying the association will do everything possible within its reach to make the products reach prospective individuals.