Towards conservation of Nigerian medicinal plants

Abstract

The scientific world today, seems to have gone indigenous, searching the grassroots for potential plants and animals that could confer solutions to problems that have puzzled mankind, to search for newer and more potent drugs and perhaps even to develop vaccines against diseases plaguing the nation. Whatever it may be, it is not farfetched to say that indigenous knowledge is now the “in-thing”. Africa is naturally endowed with the richness of diverse and mostly un-investigated flora and fauna, and this has placed this continent on priority for indigenous investigations. Nigeria is one of such nations, showing a growing boom of indigenous based research especially in the use of medicinal plants. However, it is interesting to note that over the years, great efforts have been put in place for the conservation of its diverse fauna, thus overshadowing the relevance of plant conservation, especially the medicinal plants. This paper aims at highlighting the importance of adopting proactive measure through education and local communities’ participation in order to conserve the medicinal plant wealth in Nigeria.