Mr Bukle Zukum, an entrepreneur from the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) Jos centre, says indiscriminate mixture of herbal remedies can adversely affect the well-being of citizens.

Zukum made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, many people just mix herbs together without due consultation thereby causing harm to themselves.

Zukum an expert in the production of herbal remedies using local spices such as turmeric, cinnamon seeds and honey said that people should adhere strictly to the direction and usage of medicines as directed by the producer.

“Most of the problems people encounter after using herbal remedies come mostly from the misuse of such remedies.

“In my work, I have come to notice that most people, in the bid to get quick relief from their pain, mix all sorts of remedies together with the hope of getting fast result.

“But these things don’t work that way, each remedy has the ailment for which it is produced, in fact, the patient ends up aggravating his situation because most agents in one remedy might be an anti-agent in another remedy.

“So instead of helping the patient to get better, it rather adds to his discomfort and even in some situations may even lead to a life-threatening circumstance,” he said.

Zukum, therefore, advised citizens to always adhere to prescriptions and dosage written on the leaflets of all remedies before taking them in order not to endanger their lives.

He further said that people should desist from mixing together remedies that they do not know the compositions and ingesting them without proper consultation.

On the standards of local remedies, the entrepreneur said that most Nigerian remedies were now standardised, adding that all of the remedies in NBTI undergo the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) safety specifications before they are allowed to be released.

He appealed to the government to provide funding for entrepreneurs to be able to commercialise their products and also go into further research to improve their innovations

“Most entrepreneurs products can compete favourably with all these GNLD or Tianshi products what we need is funding to be able to showcase our products to the world.

“With adequate funding, we can produce the highest quality of materials that are locally sourced, produce en masse and export outside the country thereby bringing in the much needed foreign exchange for the country,” Zukum said. (NAN)

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