Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has urged Nigerians to embrace traditional medicine, describing it as the oldest, most effective health care system that has endured.
Soyinka spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Wednesday at a programme organised by the Ogun State Government and traditionalists to mark the 2025 Isese Festival, celebrated annually on August 20.
The Nobel Laureate threw his weight behind the Isese Day celebration, saying it offered the people a rare opportunity to reconnect with their cultural roots.
He enjoined Nigerians to rediscover their heritage and adopt alternative medicine for healing and primary health care.
He stressed that traditional culture and inheritance must be preserved and propagated across generations.
He noted that even advocates of orthodox medicine, trained in western institutions, were now adopting traditional and natural remedies as preferred forms of care.
Soyinka added: “One thing I must stress here is our herbs and roots, our traditional medicine, which the western world now calls pharmacology.”
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He lamented that Nigerians often disregarded these remedies, believing only hospitals provided real care, whereas local herbs and roots remained highly potent.
He said: “Many people are retracing their steps.
“Producers of traditional medicine should not be afraid.
“It is the way forward and must be supported.”
Soyinka also urged the people to guard jealously their highly valued traditional heritage.
Governor Dapo Abiodun congratulated traditionalists as they marked this year’s Isese Day.
Abiodun praised their unity and assured them of continued government support in preserving cultural heritage.
Represented by the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Sesan Fagbayi, the governor said Isese Day had come to stay in Ogun State, stressing the administration’s commitment to religious tolerance.
The Chairman of the Alternate Medicine Board, Nurudeen Olaleye, commended the governor for fulfilling his campaign promise by declaring August 20 a public holiday for Isese Day.
Olaleye appealed to Abiodun to also address other pressing needs in promoting alternate medicine in the state.
He described the sector as a promising global goldmine waiting to be fully tapped.
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