The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said that the Federal Government is test-driving the alleged cure said to have been discovered by former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and current President of Bio-Resources Institute of Nigeria, BION, Prof. Maurice Iwu for the widespread coronavirus.
Prof Iwu had revealed last Monday that he has discovered a cure for Coronavirus, when he led a team of scientists to present the discovery to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonayya Onu, Minister of State, Science and Technology, Mohammed Abdullahi and Minister of State for Health, Dr Adeleke Mamora.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonanya Onu, had said that the United States of America is conducting tests on a ‘chemical compound’ isolated by the former chairman of INEC, Prof. Iwu, as a possible cure for coronavirus.
Dismissing reports suggesting that Iwu had found a cure for the disease, Dr Onu said that Iwu’s initial finding was that the compound could cure SARS.
But responding to a question from newsmen on Friday, March 6, the Minister of Health, Dr. Ehanire confirmed Prof. Maurice Iwu, former INEC Chairman’s claim to have a product that could be used to treat the Covid-19.
Ehanire said, “Iwu in 2015 developed a product to work against the SARS virus, and suggested that since the virus is similar to COVID19, it could be used.”
He clarified that the product developed by Iwu was not new and was already being tested by some research institutions in the United States of America.
NAN reports that Nigeria has published the first African SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence, from the COVID19 case in Nigeria.
This was carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, ACEGID, and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH.
The project was under the coordination of the World Health Organisation, WHO, and NCDC.
