President Buhari has given a directive for the importation of the herbal syrup.
In a statement released by its president, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa today May 12, the umbrella body of Nigerian pharmacists said it received with utter disbelief the news of the planned importation of the herbal syrup. .

Ohuabunwa said the society is shocked that the Federal government can move swiftly to collect such syrup from an African country that boasts of fewer scientists when they have consistently ignored calls to carry out a clinical evaluation for the drugs some Nigerian pharmacists claim they have developed as a cure for the ravaging viral disease.

“”The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has received the news that the Federal Government of Nigeria is about to import a herbal concoction called COVID Organics (CVO) from Madagascar with utter disbelief.

While in principle we would not mind Nigerian government importing any new drug that is proven to cure COVID-19 or indeed any other disease for which we have neither the capacity, nor the technology to produce locally, we are totally appalled that Nigeria is about to spend scarce foreign exchange to import ‘COAL INTO NEWCASTLE’.

Even if we are not going to pay for this, it is thoroughly disgraceful that a country that should be the leader of Africa, with the largest GDP will allow itself to be dragged this low. Nigeria has about 174 Universi-ties (43 Federal, 52 State and 79 private), 20 Faculties of Pharmacy and about 69 Federal-Funded Research In-stitutes (including National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research & Development and the National Institute for Medical Research) while Madagascar has only 6 Universities, 1 Faculty of Pharmacy and 9 Research Centers!!! Nigeria has some of the best scientists (Pharmaceutical, Medical, Biochemical, Biological etc.) in the world who have done so much work on natural and herbal medicines.”