Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, has said that he has identified a possible treatment of the CONVID-19, novel Coronavirus which has claimed over 3,000 lives globally.

The former INEC boss who is a Professor of Pharmacognosy, claims is among the neglected tropical emergent diseases his research group has been studying for years.

While briefing the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who was in the company of the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora and the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi in Abuja on Monday, Professor Iwu, who heads a bio-science institute,  said the US Government has reached out to him to take the discovered compound and test it against the COVID-19 virus.

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“We have selected to focus on neglected tropical emergent diseases such as Leishmaniasis, Ebola virus, Dengue fever virus, Chikungunya virus, coronavirus, and Tacaribe virus.

“When the Ebola virus broke out in 2014, many Nigerians were surprised that we had an experimental lead compound that we identified in 1999.

“Now with the emergence of a novel coronavirus in 2020 as COVID 19, we have identified and patented a possible treatment back in 2015, it is very important that we must remain ahead of these emergent infections through research.

“On Thursday last week, the US Government contacted me and we signed a non-clinical evaluation agreement for us to take this product forward and we are trying to see how we can test this compound immediately against this new virus.

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