By Nkiruka Nnorom

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Science and Technology, FMST, will continue to provide a credible platform for bioresources development in the country.

The Minister of the FMST, Dr. Abdul Bulama, gave this assurance at  the opening of ‘HerbFest 2014’ a workshop put together by the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, NNMDA, in collaboration with Bioresources Development and Conservation Program, BDCP, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, FIIRO, and the International Centre for Ethnic Medicine and Drug Discovery, InterCEDD, in Lagos.

Represented by Manese Gwaza from the ministry, Bulama said that the federal government will also continue to support innovative researches to assist in development of natural products’ Research & Development, R&D, output, which will contribute to create jobs, wealth and assist to improve the lives and well being of Nigerians.

He said that the theme of the workshop, “Herbs, Health Foods, Herbal and Natural Products: Shifting the Boundaries of Healthcare” was apt and very relevant to the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, “as the government strives to use all the available resources of the nation to improve the welfare and well being of all Nigerian.

“To this end, the HerbFest is a laudable initiative as it has the potential to assist to promote the production of healthy indigenous foods and herbal therapies that will assist address local and global food nutrition and health challenges, encourage sustainable utilization of our vast biological resources, facilitate conservation of our environment and assist in the creation of job and wealth to the nation through industrial expansion, commerce, science, technology and innovation development.

In a keynote address, Chairman, Bioresources Development Group, BDG, Prof. Maurice Iwu, said the traditional medicine practitioners and established pharmaceutical companies in the country have successfully developed products registered by NADFDAC.

“But what we are not happy about is the number. They are quite limited compare to what we have in our laboratories. So, the whole idea of this HerbFest is to link the laboratories with the market place and with the patent name so that there will be holistic approach to developing natural products as medicine, as food, and as industrial products,” he said.