Morolake Oluwatosin
Medicinal plants have been said to be tremendously relevant in the protection and treatments of any known ailments in human bodies.
This was part of the submission given yesterday by A University lecturer, Professor Olatunde Abass Oseni during the 84th Inaugural Lecture he delivered at the Ekiti state University, EKSU, Ado-Ekiti.
The lecture was titled,’ Medicinal Plants and Human Existence: God’s Greatest Gift For Healthy Sustenance And Healthy Living’.
The university lecturer tasked the Ministry of Health and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to regulate and control the preparation of drugs and other remedies from medicinal plants used in the country, in order to ensure safety in the use of medicinal plants.
The Don added that the utilization and application of medicinal plants worldwide especially in the developing and third world countries are proves that the plants are greatest gift from God to man as the beginning of prevention of human sickness ,protection of human health and hence survival and sustenance of the human race .
Earlier, the EKSU Vice Chancellor, Professor,Edward Olanipekun at the inaugural lecture seized the opportunity to assure all staff and students of the institution of adequate security measures towards the planned nation wide protest slated to begin on Thursday.
The inaugural lecturer also called on government at all levels to ensure that government and non governmental agencies provided adequate information on the process of harvesting and storage of medicinal plants for effective use .
“it is high time,we also look inward as a nation,to preserve and cultivate some of the rare species of plants of medicinal and economic importance . Hence government should prohibit the collection from the wild of threatened medicinal plants except for propagation purpose.
“ Government and dedicated entrepreneurs should embark on full blown cultivation of medicinal plants and production to boost health security”
Reacting to the inaugural lecture, Prof. Olanipekun congratulated the inaugural lecturer, urged scholars on impactful thesis.
“This is a wonderful lecture ,I congratulate the lecturer. There is a need for our professors to braze up to showcase knowledge.
“Since I came on board five years ago , I have promoted about 150 people to a rank of professor , thank God for the privilege , putting smile on the faces of people , now that we have a lot of professors , we should be able to put our papers together to proof the professorship .
“its high time in Nigeria we go beyond publishing for the sake of promotion ,it is time for us to move forward and find solution to the challenges confronting the country, collate all the inaugural lectures and see the ones that can be driven further for the purpose of impacting the society “
The Vice chancellor used the occasion to pray for the safe release of a former EKSU Deputy Vice Chancellor,DVC,Professor Olorunfemi Olaofe who was recently kidnapped .
“we pray to God for the safe release of one of our former DVC , prof. Olorunfemi Olaofe to deliver him safely from the hand of his abductors.
‘ On the planned nationwide protest,the Federal government has implored all the VCs to inform all staff and students that adequate security measures are in place to guarantee safety ,no need to panic,everybody should go about their normal businesses”, Olanipekun said.