A Nigerian scientist, Chief Apollos Keniyinbo, on Tuesday solicited the support of stakeholders to showcase his research findings, a potential vaccine and cure for the Coronavirus.

Keniyinbo, who spoke in Yenagoa the Bayelsa State capital, said that there was need to look beyond the pharmaceutical and health sector in the developed countries for a vaccine and cure for the virus.

The scientist who heads the Centre for Creative Scientists in Niger Delta, applauded the move by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology to scrutinise claims of home grown and herbal remedy.

He said the challenge to indigenous scientists motivated him.

Dr Ogbonaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology, had on Monday inaugurated a committee on herbal therapies and natural therapies for Coronavirus pandemic.

He said that there were several obstacles faced by indigenous scientists like him, who were not in the medical science fields to submit their remedies for evaluation and validation as the established agencies were not having the mandate to evaluate research findings.

He noted that research was capital intensive and appealed to the three tiers of government to make grants available to scientists with prospects and encourage collaboration amongst indigenous scientists.

“I am appealing to government at all levels to create an environment that will let the science community to verify and validate what I have done so far. From when the pandemic broke out in China I started working on a solution and in Feb. 2020, my formulation was ready.

“But as we speak, I have not been given the opportunity to present my findings for scrutiny, I studied analytical chemistry and I am conversant with the procedure and process for vaccine production and I am very willing but I have not been given the attention.

“I have approached the Bayelsa office of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and my interactions with them showed that they are positioned for drug manufacturing process inspection, registration and regulation and not research findings.

“The stage of this has not got to mass production yet so I have approached the Southern Ijaw Local Government and Bayelsa Government to help me get the attention of relevant authorities to look at my remedy.

“I am very sure that my solution is effective and I have even administered it on myself and it is not toxic at all. It is actually composed of four components that form the therapy which I am ready to produce for validation and trials.

“The solution I have developed is effective for prevention and cure and by using it I have no fear whatsoever of COVID-19.

“Mine is a combination therapy and administered by injection and the samples I produced are still available. The process has been documented in the scientific format, all that is left is to mass produce the documentation which includes the formulae and dosage modules,” Keniyinbo said.

He said that he was being hampered by his inability to get the requisite approvals for trials adding that he would have gone far if the scientific validation process had taken off when he formulated the potential remedy in February.

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