KSA
Orogbo used in developing the eye drop
Orogbo, her invented eye drop
Professor Adebunkola Adefule- Ositelu,retired during her sent forth as dean of Optamology,College of Medicine University of Lagos in an exclusive interview with Newdawnngr.com
By Olatunde Abatan, Charles Okogene
‘Ki ni anfani Orogbo’ ( what is the benefit of bitter cola?) This was one of King Sunny Ade’s masterpices that still gets the elders shuffle their feet on the dancer floor despite the fact that the song was released in the 1980s.
Sunny Ade out of ignorance of the medical values of the seed that is widerly grown in Africa, wondered why people chew relish, a seed that leaves the taste bud bitter and sour not knowing that it is packed with lots of medicinal values.
And because of the health benefit, retired dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos,Professor Adebukunola Adebule-Ositelu, has changed the narrative of Sunny’s song as she has produced at least three drugs from the seed once derided by the Juju maestro.
As a result,the professor of Optamology urged the master guitarist to rewrite the song to portray the health benefit of Orogbo “before he dies.”
Adebule-Ositelu who is currently the Chairman of Lagos State Trado Medicine Board, has invented an eyedrop with Orogbo as the main raw material for the treatment of Glucoma,Cattaract and other related eye ailments and selling fast all over the globe.
In an interview with Newdawnngr.com in her Ojota office, she highlighted all the aliment that can be managed or cured with Orogbo and many other herbs that some often weed away here in Nigeria and thrown into the fire out of ignorance.
As a person who has seen it all to the peak of her orthodox optamological career in the past five decades and now has vied into the much vilified herbal sector, she said that if our trado- medicine practitioners can be given recognition by way of better laboratory structure to analyse their products and standard the production, they can compete favourably with the orthodox practitioners and their products, if not better.
Though, she said Lagos State government, has done better than any other government,including the federal government of Nigeria, she said that Lagos would have done best, if they provide the practitioners a hygienically save place to carry out analysis of their inventions and standard it’s practice, a call which she said is receiving favourable response from the Governor Babajide Sanwoolu administration.
Among other breakthroughs of our herbalist that she highlighted include being able to produce drug for the treatment of Ebola which reared its head in Nigeria and killed many in Africa and lately the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to her many high profile personalities in Lagos have received doses of treatment made from hitherto neglected local herbs but won’t be bold enough to come out publicly to admit.
Asked reasons for this she declared,”Our major problem is that most of our elite in Africa are still suffering from colonial mentality and until we admit the reality of efficacy of our local herbs,we we nit be free from foreign domination”.
She also attributed reluctance of governments in Africa especially Nigeria to publicly approve local herbs as did Madagascar because of the machinations of the World Health Organisation,WHO,which has spent money on COVID vaccine and would want the international pharmaceutical companies to sell their products and recoup investments.
