VICTOR AYENI writes about how traditional medicine is enjoying growing patronage in light of the skyrocketing prices of orthodox drugs in the country and the immense potential of research that lies in alternative medicine
In the busy Sango Ota market, in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Mrs Ayoni Oladipo graciously showcased her array of herbal products. Across the wooden table in front of her shop were plastic bottles of different shapes labelled according to the ailments they were prepared to cure.
Weekly, clients from the area and other towns and cities visited the shop of the Osogbo indigene whose knowledge of herbal concoctions she admitted was learnt from her mother.
The 41-year-old woman was in a cheery mood when Saturday PUNCH visited her shop on Tuesday morning and asked for herbal mixtures to treat diarrhoea and malaria.
I get much patronage and I have clients even outside Ogun State. People come to me from Lagos, Ibadan, and even Abuja. They contact me for a variety of reasons and request herbs to cure diarrhoea, back pains, and general body weakness,” Oladipo said with a genuine grin that evinced happiness and sincerity.
When our correspondent expressed some scepticism about the efficacy of herbal products, Oladipo gave some instances to accentuate the potency of her herbal preparations.
She explained, “Just recently, they called me to help a white man around here whom we call ‘Baba Mighty.’ He works in a company not too far from here but he came down with a stroke.
His condition was made worse when he fell to the ground while at work and his colleagues were watching him like a pack of fowls. I took care of this man with my herbs and he is better now.
“Unfortunately, his people didn’t deliver all of my money to me, they kept part of it because they had thought herbal medicine would be as expensive as orthodox medicine.
Not sure our correspondent was convinced, she continued, “There was a lady whose menses stopped and her husband came and confided in me when he saw some people buying some herbs from me. The couple had gone to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre, and another medical facility but nothing changed.
So, I gave him a half bottle of herbs from the shop for his wife. When his wife started seeing her menses again, he returned here to thank me. The lady later conceived and gave birth to twins. I also sell herbal preparations that cure weak erections or impotence.
I often mix atori odo (Tiliaceae) with alligator pepper and instruct the man to take the mixture. It will awaken his erection, except if it is a spiritual attack, and that is beyond what I cure.”
Sunday Glonat Newsonline gathered that the prices of the herbs sold by Oladipo ranged between N3,000 to N5,000, a development she blamed on economic inflation.
For now, things are generally expensive so the prices of my herbs range from N3,000 to N5,000. Those herbs in bigger plastic bottles are N5,000,” she said, pointing at some bottles in a corner of her shop.
They are so efficacious that you can’t even finish their content before the condition goes away. I now enjoy better patronage because people have realised that herbal medicine is cheaper than Western medicine.
Another advantage is that herbs don’t expire. One of the reasons it doesn’t work for some people is when roots are used in place of tree bark during preparation. When people are advised to use local eggs, they use eggs from layers instead; there’s no way such a herb will work,” she added.
Like Oladipo, another herb seller in Ofada, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Mrs Kemisola Banwo, said that despite the negativity that traditional medicine used to evoke among the populace, it had gained a more positive image in recent times.
“Gone are those days when people spoke ill of our trade as it used to be. Now, we have educated people who patronise us.
This is not a joke, you can ask anyone who sells herbs, people from all walks of life to troop to us when they need a cure.
“Our industry is now acceptable and even the government recognises our effort. We aim to heal people, we are not sorcerers or fetish people. We make use of the plants and roots that God has given us to treat illnesses just as the whites have done. People now see this,” Banwo averred.
Peoplesmind
