Guardian

LAGOS-based Bello Dele, 40, late last year suffered  constipation, body weakness and  headache. He initially attributed it to stress. But when he did not get relief after days of rest, he informed his friend, Adeyinka, who advised him to take herbal drug called agbo in Yoruba. The next morning he consulted agbo sellers in Oyingbo Market and was diagnosed with malaria and jedijedi (dysentery). He bought the prescribed herbs and the symptoms disappeared.

But Mrs. Agnes Okoro was not so lucky. She noticed a lump in her left breast and decided to apply agbo which she bought from street hawkers. Instead of relief, the condition worsened. The lump grew so rapidly and embarrassedly that she had to change bra every week.  Succour came for her at last from the Lagos University State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

Like Agnes and Bello, many Lagos residents patronise herbal mixtures popularly known as agbo. The mixtures can be bought from hawkers, who sell in plastics, or from those who sell them in shops or markets.

Heavily patronised, the herbal consumption has become ubiquitous in Lagos and environs.

The Guardian learnt that some people consume agbo for several reasons: As aphrodisiac (manpower), preventive, curative or palliative measures.

Segun Adewale, 30, who said agbo has become his “regular”, reveal that men are attracted to it because of the belief that it boosts their sexual power. “Most men consume in the belief that it aids their sexual power. I love taking agbo very much.  Maybe it is because it cures all my sicknesses; I don’t think I have heard of any (orthodox) drug that cures pile. But if one took agbo, one would get the needed relief,” Segun said.

“Also if I want to have sex with my girlfriend, I often use it as manpower (aphrodisiac) because it helps me to really enjoy myself without any complaint. I can’t even remember the last time I went to hospital for treatment because I use my agbo regularly.”

The Guardian learnt that agbo business is a big business. While some have rented and dedicated shops to the business, others have employees running the business for them.

Mrs. Agara Mercy, who has a big agbo shop at Ketu, Lagos, has five apprentices under her. Ms. Rose Omomowo, another agbo seller in Surulere area of Lagos has lost count of how many agbo sellers she has trained. “ I have trained a lot of people I can’t count. I have achieved a lot from this business. At least, two of my children in universities are being trained from the proceeds of this my business.  Proceed from this business is what I have used to start building my house at Mowe, Ogun State,” the woman in her 50s said.

Others dealers, mostly women, who cannot afford a shop, simply hawk the drug in plastic containers of various sizes, using cups to measure portions  for customers. They are the numerous itinerant sellers of agbo in Lagos. Agbo hawkers mix it colourfully, probably to attract customers. Some mixture appear pinkish yellow while others look like chilled coke.

The Guardian that agbo business is moving getting more  corporate as several association like the Nigeria Association of Medical Herbalist (NAMH), National Association of Nigeria Traditional Medical Practitioners (ANTMP) and Herbal Therapy Society of Nigeria (HTSN) have added more business and professional touch.

The world market potential for herbal medicines is estimated at N9.6 trillion, with Nigeria said to have comparative advantage. The nation has an estimated 5,000 plants species for herbal medicine, with about 205 of the them considered endemic, making the country the ninth highest in number of herbal plants among 42 African countries.

Market for agbo booms probably because some Nigerianshave more trust in herbal medicine than in orthodox drugs.

Delta State-born Nene is a lover of agbo, though she takes it irregularly. “I don’t normally take agbo. But I took it in the past for an infection and I realised that it worked faster than (orthodox) drugs because I urinated it out and saw the effect immediately. My belief is that agbo does not have any side-effects,” the 29-year-old-woman said.

If the consumers have confidence in agbo, its sellers have enviable faith in it. The sellers, like most consumers, believe that agbo could cure any disease, including hypertension, diabetes, kidney infections, which the orthodox medicine finds virtually incurable.

When The Guardian visited Mushin Market, one of the largest markets for agbo in Lagos, the section allocated to agbo sellers was a beehive of activities.

It looked like a typical African village, and some of the shops looked like shrines.

Ironically, the market is located few metres from the University of Lagos Teachning Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, the highest citadel of orthodox medicine in Lagos.

Alayo Dayo, a man in his late 30s, is a herbal medicine seller in the Mushin market. He is the fourth generation of agbo sellers in his family; his great-grandmother started it and transferred to Alayo’s grandmother, who taught Alayo’s mother who in turn bequeathed it to Alayo and his siblings.

Alayo told The Guardian that one thing that has made agbo  survive is its ability to smash ailments in a jiffy.

His words: “I sell different kinds of agbos, depending on the kind of sickness one has. I sell the one that can cure malaria, typhoid, hypertension, menstrual disorder and any kind of sickness —- except human immunodeficiency virus infection / acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). It works faster than orthodox drugs. It works from head to toe so that one would urinate the sickness. And one will see the effect immediately as one would sweat it out. That means, it has done the work it is supposed to do, unlike orthodox medicines, which only manages to suppress ailment for some time. Although people believe in orthodox drugs, they are now switching to agbo because it works faster. People patronise us often. I have belief in agbo because it is not made by man but by God.

“ I am the fourth generation of my family that sells agbo. It was my great-grandmother who started it. But my mother, my sister and I are now selling it.”

He added: “We used to learn from our parents when they were selling it. That was how we knew the ones that can cure one sickness or the other. Except one learnt it or is gifted in it, one cannot know it. We can differentiate the ones that can work for manpower (aphrodisiac), rheumatism, measles and so on.  So it is what we know and we are very sure of it. We do not mix them up.  We ask people we prepare it for to give us feedback. That is where we are different from agbo hawkers, who may disappear into the thin air so that if anything happens, the patient may not be able to lodge complaint. We also have association and we hold meetings...”

The Guardian learnt that while agbo treatment for malaria goes for at least N500, treatment for gonorrhoea goes for as high as N3,000 in Lagos.

It is, however, cheaper among agbo hawkers, who sell in cups for as low as N50 per cup of almost the volume of a baby feeding bottle.

Some herbal practitioners said agbo hawkers are the quacks that have given a bad name to the trade.

Furthermore, medical practitioners have alleged that increasing consumption of herbal medicine may be responsible for the increasing rate of kidney failures among Nigerians .

However, World Health Organisation  (WHO) Expert on African Traditional Medicine and Chairman of Lagos State Board of Traditional Medicine, Dr. Omoseyindemi Bunmi, had told The Guardian that fake drugs and drug abuse, rather than herbal medicine, should be blamed for kidney diseases in Nigeria.