By Okechukwu Onuegbu
The students of Pharmacognosy and Traditional Medicine, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam, Anambra State, have expressed confidence and readiness to promote the African plants and their medicinal values.
The students stated this during their field trip to the Centre for Psychic and Healing Administration (CPHA), Awka, a mandatory practical exercise that exposes them to several plants and their botanical names labeled in English, Igbo, Hausa.
They commended the founder, CPHA, Chief Dr Flora Ilonzo, noting that the knowledge garnered from the exercise had reshaped their mindsets on the nature and values of plants, inspiring them to nurse, cultivate and preserve them for their healing potentials, nutrients, among others.
Speaking at the visit, the Head of Department (HoD), Pharmacognosy and Traditional Medicine, Dr Onyinye Okonkwo revealed that some of their past students had ventured into nursing of plants, conservation, processing, and extraction of the medicinal values for healings, production and other purposes.
"Some of us currently have varieties of African plants in our gardens and use them for different purposes. They are nature's gifts to humans. What we gain from the field trips are too numerous to mention. The knowledge, exposure and experience reinforces what we learnt in the class. Students use the opportunity to learn more about plants; touch, feel them, hear directly from the experts on their healing potentials and uses ," she stated.
Also speaking, the Departmental Course representative for year 4, Miss Chinecherem Enemuo, thanked the management of COOU and CPHA for the collaboration that led to the field trip, assuring that they would make informed use of the exposure and experience garnered in the programme.
Earlier, the founder of CPHA, Chief Dr Mrs Flora Ilonzo and her staff took the visiting students round their botanical garden, teaching them the efficacy of plants like Oda opue, peers, among others.
Ilonzo equally charged them to be careful of what they consume, noting that longevity and healthy living could be determined by our daily lifestyles because our food is our medicine.