Three scientists submit coronavirus treatment claims to Nigerian govt

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnnaya Onu, said on Saturday three more Nigerian scientists had submitted for verification their presumed cure for the deadly coronavirus.

The Minister disclosed this to journalists after delivering a keynote address at a national youth summit organized by the Middle Belt Youth Council in Jos, Plateau State.

A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu, had last week claimed his team of researchers had discovered a cure for the disease that had killed 3,000 people and infected over 100,000 others in 17 countries including Nigeria.

Nigeria recorded its first case of coronavirus last Friday.

Iwu’s claim, the minister said is still being scrutinized in the United States.

The minister said: “I want to tell you as the Minister of Science and Technology that we have three other scientists who have sent in information to us on what they believe can approximate to cure or can lead to a cure of the coronavirus disease and right now, that information is being scrutinized.”

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Onu, who reiterated the Federal Government’s efforts at curtailing the spread of the disease in Nigeria, added, “What again we did at the Ministry is to ask the Nigeria Academy of Science to set up a standing committee of the best experts in that specialized area to assess all the claims.

“So, when a claim comes to us, it is not we in the Ministry that will look at it, rather we subject it to the scrutiny and analysis of these high profile scientists set up by the President of the Academy. So any information that we have regarding the virus, we pass it to Nigerians.”

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