The Director-General of Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), Prof. Martins Omeje, has said that more than 93 per cent of Nigerians depend on traditional medicine to survive, saying that for Nigeria to achieve universal health coverage, traditional medicine remains the panacea.

said that scientists must continue to develop and need no one outside of Africa to validate it, noting that the era of boundaries is gone but collaboration is important.

Omeje, who advised at the herbal medicine conference, tagged “Traditional and Herbal Medicine: Challenges and the Prospects for Translational Research,” organised by Chrisland University, Abeokuta, said that primary healthcare services in Nigeria were mere architectural structure, adding that there is need for governments to relate with traditional medicine practitioners for more robust contribution to healthcare delivery.

IN another development, the Supreme Leader of the Traditional Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Dibia Chukwuma Ezeoruonye, has urged the Federal Government to declare a day for traditional African religious worshippers to celebrate yearly like other major religious groups.

Ezeoruonye, who spoke, yesterday, during a media briefing on the state of the nation, said that this is important not only for traditional religious worshippers to have a sense of belonging but also to keep traditional religious worship in the mainstream and consciousness of the people.

He bemoaned the government for relegating traditional religious worship to the background and giving other religious groups preferential treatment, saying that the many troubles the country is grappling with were due to the way traditional religion is being treated.

Ezeoruonye, therefore, stressed the need to appease the gods, saying that the crisis in the country is spiritual and would require spiritual solutions. He added that there is a need to make sacrifices to the gods for them to halt their anger against the country.