As part of their efforts to curb ingenuity and illegality, the Ogun State Alternate Medicine Board (OGAMB) has inaugurated a task force to curb unlawful practices in the subsector, as part of the effort to stamp out quackery.
Mr Balogun Olaleye, the OGAMB Chairman, , made this known in Abeokuta on Friday, at a one-day workshop.
The workshop was staged in collaboration with the National Association of Nigeria Traditional Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The theme of the event was “The Impact of Selling and Preparation of Herbal Medicines in Nigeria”.
Olaleye mentioned that the taskforce would also checkmate those with criminal tendencies in traditional medicine practice.
Read Also: First Beneficiaries Of Prof. MarkAnthony Scholarship Emerge
He also noted that the move would enable members operating in the various specialised fields to have separate taskforces that would be working with the state enforcement team to flush out quacks and reposition the subsector. He added that the enforcement mechanism put in place for alternate medicine practice in Ogun had become compulsory.
“The rate at which the image of the practice is being dented by quacks due to the carefree attitude of some practitioners will no longer be tolerated in the state.
“Quacks in the subsector must leave the state now or they will be arrested and prosecuted by the law,” he warned.
In his address, the State Commandant, NDLEA, Commander Mathew Eije, said that alternate medicine practice was as old as the evolution of man on earth and long existed before the introduction of orthodox practice.
According to him, the agency is ready to wage war against drug abuse.
He warned traditional practitioners to be very careful with what they sell to the public.
