President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, presided over the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, from the Council Chamber of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, with nothing said about the ordered shooting of the peaceful EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate, in Lagos,
None of the Ministers who briefed State House Correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, mentioned anything relating to the very tragic incident.
Those who spoke to Journalists after the meeting, were the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; and the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Mahmood.
Dr. Ehanire had said that his Ministry presented a memorandum to the Council, on a Bill to establish a Council for Traditional, Alternative and Complementary Medicine Practice in Nigeria.
He stated that the memorandum sought to take traditional and complementary medicine out of obscurity and institutionalise it, as has been done in other countries, particularly China and India.
His words: “The outbreak of Covid-19 has renewed the call for home-grown solutions to all these public health diseases and to find the value in our traditional medicine.
“This is an opportunity with which traditional medicine practice can not only be upscaled but also be regulated because there are also areas of malpractice that should be checked.
“It will also provide for the possibility of training, setting up institutions and also being able to research further, working with the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research of Nigeria to dig out the values that are in our traditional medicines, where they can be used and be used for research.”
Adebayo on his part, said that the FEC ratified Nigeria’s membership of the International Coffee Organisation.
He stated that the country has been having an observer status in the organisation since 2008, when it signed the agreement, and has been missing out on benefits accrued to members.
More news later…