Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has urged Nigerians to embrace traditional medicine, describing it as the oldest and most effective healthcare system that has endured.

Mr Soyinka spoke in Abeokuta on Wednesday at a programme organised by the Ogun government and traditionalists to mark the 2025 Isese Festival, celebrated annually on August 20.

He threw his weight behind the Isese Day celebration, saying it offered the people a rare opportunity to reconnect with their cultural roots.

Mr Soyinka enjoined Nigerians to rediscover their heritage and adopt alternative medicine for healing and primary healthcare. He stressed that traditional culture and inheritance must be preserved and propagated across generations.

Mr Soyinka noted that even advocates of orthodox medicine, trained in Western institutions, were now adopting traditional and natural remedies as preferred forms of care.

He added, “One thing I must stress here is our herbs and roots, our traditional medicine, which the western world now calls pharmacology.”

He lamented that Nigerians often disregarded these remedies, believing only hospitals provided real care, whereas local herbs and roots remained highly potent.

“Many people are retracing their steps. Producers of traditional medicine should not be afraid. It is the way forward and must be supported,” he said.

Mr Soyinka also urged the people to guard their traditional heritage jealously.

Governor Dapo Abiodun congratulated traditionalists as they marked this year’s Isese Day. Mr Abiodun praised their unity and assured them of continued government support in preserving cultural heritage.

The governor said Isese Day had come to stay in Ogun, stressing the administration’s commitment to religious tolerance.

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.

Mr Olaleye appealed to the governor to also address other pressing needs in promoting alternative medicine in the state. He described the sector as a promising global goldmine waiting to be fully tapped.

(NAN)