COVID-19: Osun may grind to a halt if not financially assisted, monarch cries out

• Makinde Slashes Political Aides’ Salaries
• FUOYE Don Develops Herbal Cure For Virus, Submits Claim To NIPRD

Traditional ruler in Osun state, Olowu of Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyelude Makama, Tegbosun III, has urged the Federal Government to support the state government financially in its bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Makama cried out yesterday saying Osun state may grind to a halt if not financially assisted as the state’s government’s purse has grown lean since it started fighting Covid-19. He asked the Federal Government to either wave the debts of the state or support it with funds so as to be on sound footing post corona.

Olowu in a press briefing during the flag-off of Olori Fatima Adeola Makama Oyelude second community empowerment initiative, which was the distribution of relief to vulnerable indigenes and residents of the town, said the fact that residents of the state had not trooped out to demand for financial assistance did not mean they were not suffering. He revealed that Osun was not financially buoyant before Covid-19 and that the financial challenges of the state have further put more pressure on the lean resources of the state.

In related development, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State yesterday ordered a 50 percent reduction in salaries of all senior political appointees in state with immediate effect. Makinde made the order while participants at the 2020 International Workers’ Day held at the secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ibadan, adding that the pay cut would not affect civil servants.

Lecturers in the Faculty of Science, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, (FUOYE), have said that they have developed a herbal mixture that could cure Covid-19.

According to a press release signed by the Dean, Faculty of Science, Professor Olayide Lawal, the herbal mixture has been tested against several viruses before the outbreak of corona and had shown to be effective against some Adenoviruses, Rhinoviruses, influenza and other respiratory viruses and tumors.

According to him, the product has been submitted to Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD). Lawal added that the lead researcher of the drug was Dr. Lawrence Okoror of the department of Microbiology who is a consultant to World Health Organisation (WHO).

He urged the Federal Government to look inwards for solution to Covid-19, saying that Nigeria can take a cue from Madagascar that is using locally developed mixture to treat the virus.