Roadside herbal vendors should be sanctioned – analyst says

An Owerri-based public affairs analyst, Mr. Ifeanyi Olumba has called on federal and state governments to sanction activities of roadside herbal medical dealers, saying their public awareness strategy is deceitful.

Olumba, a legal practitioner disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday while reacting to what he described as `deceit by herbal vendors’.

He said besides being deceitful, the health message which they preached every day was destroying the mindset of underage children.

“Government must wake up to the issue and fight against the ugly trend before society is destroyed. I get worried because their health message is usually not decent and can register easily in the brain on young children,” he said.

According to him, their advertisement and public announcement of sexual performance could simply be described as verbal pornography.

He, therefore, suggested that the government should put a stop to it by setting up a tax force to drive them out of the streets.

Olumba also suggested that herbal medicine dealers must be streamlined and licensed, while also adding that they must operate from designated offices.

“Value for decent information has been distorted and sometimes, the health message they preach contradicts modern medicine.

“I am not against their operation but it must be guided so that it will not reduce value for decent information. They have constituted a big nuisance to the society and this ugly trend must stop,” he said.