Covid-19 Mixture:  Madagascar demands N98.2m from Nigeria

• Says the drug not free

Nigeria may have to cough out about 170,000 Euro (N98.2million) as payment to the government of Madagascar for the consignments of coronavirus herbal mixture sent to the country last week, a report by The Nation newspaper has revealed.

The drug, which has been touted as a cure for the dreaded disease, was sent to the country by the Republic of Madagascar through the president of Guinea Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo and was received by president Mohammadu Buhari over the weekend.

After receiving the drug from his guest, President Buhari said the herbal mixture will be subjected to clinical tests by Nigerian authority before it can be considered for use.

“For our consignments in Guinea Bissau, Madagascar has asked Nigeria to pay over €170,000 (N78, 200,000). We have received the invoice because the African country has made us to realise that the drugs are not being given out free.

“We are being asked to pay for the drugs yet to be validated. Since the AU directed the supply of the drugs to African countries, we may have no choice than to pay for it.

“This payment may, however, be one-off because mass importation of the drugs from Madagascar will not be cost-effective. By the time we take into account the cost of freight, the amount will be too high.

“This is why we are looking at local options available to us as a nation,” a source told the Nation.

“Some researchers have told us that we have richer herbs to contain COVID-19. In fact, a shop in Wuse 2, Abuja has been discovered to be selling Artemisia Tea with high potency than COV drugs.

“As a nation, we will leave all options open and look inwards. But, we will subject Madagascar herbal drugs to verification or validation.

“The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 is also thinking of asking the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) to relax the protocols and hasten the validation of local drugs for COVID-19.:

However, the NAFDAC and NIPRD are said to be awaiting the samples of the herbal mixture from Madagascar for validation.

A senior official of NIPRD told The Nation that “We are yet to get the samples for testing and validation. We are hopeful that this week, we might receive them. Our team is on the alert.”