By Ibrahim Muhammad, Kano A training and educational workshop is currently underway for expert traditional medicine practitioner...
By Ibrahim Muhammad, Kano
A training and educational workshop is currently underway for expert traditional medicine practitioners in Kano State, aimed at providing them with professional certification to help modernize and develop the traditional medicine sector.
This was disclosed by the Head of the National Board for Expertise in Traditional Medicine, Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Jawa.
Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Jawa, who founded the African College of Traditional Medicine known as MIJ College of Traditional Medicine, headquartered in Damaturu with campuses in 25 states across Nigeria, said the workshop was organized to evaluate practitioners and give them specialized training.
He said the Federal Government has approved the training framework for traditional medicine practitioners under the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), which is under the Office of the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, and is supervised by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
"Traditional medicine has been recognized as a profession that requires expertise. We have designed a special educational curriculum for traditional medicine practitioners which the government has approved. Anyone who passes this examination will be awarded a certificate of competence," the Professor said.
He explained that the certification levels range from Level 1 to Level 9, where Level 6 is equivalent to an HND, while Level 9 is equivalent to a Doctorate Degree (PhD) awarded by universities. The training from Level 1 to Level 6 is under the jurisdiction of the NBTE.
Professor Jawa said most of those undergoing the workshop are experts who have been in the profession for a long time - some for over 50 years, some 30, some 25 years, while others inherited the knowledge from parents and grandparents.
He said the government recognizes their knowledge and expertise, but because they acquired it through different channels, there is a need to standardize them.
"We want to harmonize them. To create a common understanding of diseases and a common language, even though the medicines differ," he said.
He stressed that the intention is not to distort the originality of traditional medicine or to completely westernize it.
"We want to preserve traditional medicine in its original form - how the human body is understood, how diseases are diagnosed, and how medicines are prepared traditionally. If we change it, it will be corrupted; it will neither be Western nor traditional," he said.
He added that those currently undergoing the workshop will be examined at Level 1 and Level 2, and if successful, they will be awarded a certificate recognized by the government under the Civil Service Scheme.
"You can be employed in the civil service with your certificate as a traditional medicine practitioner of a certain grade, or be given a license to open your own hospital, a traditional medicine production facility, or a research laboratory based on our traditions," he explained.
According to him, about 60 people registered for the first batch of the workshop. Out of them, 10 have received special training on Quality Assurance and have been certified by the board to monitor compliance and adherence to professional standards in Nigeria.
He expressed his gratitude to the government for the opportunity, saying the step will prevent the loss of vast knowledge accumulated over many years.
Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Jawa said:
"It is not right to wake up one day and discard the knowledge that ancestors and parents worked so hard for years to preserve and live by. The government studied it and said they should not be discarded, but rather improved. They are the ones who should lead its improvement so that even their children will come and learn, because most of the experts are in the villages and rural areas."
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