Ezeibe: A Professor’s Burden

By Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJA-The Nigerian University System had in the past few decades produced seasoned professionals in diverse fields. In arts, the likes of Professors Wole Soyinka, Victor Uwaifo, Pat Utomi to mention but a few, have proven that Africa’s biggest nation is not revered solely for its vast human population but also for the quality of its human resources.

Across the globe, Nigerians are proving their mileage in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), medicine, global economics, agriculture and more. Following closely on the heels of Soyinka and Achebe are internationally respected writers like Ben Okri, Tanure Ojaide, not to mention Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie whose offerings have all become international bestsellers, earning her works, impressive literary criticism and mega bucks to boot.

Few weeks ago, virtually all national dailies comprising the traditional tabloids and online news media reported the feat attained by yet another Nigerian top academic, Maduike Ezeibe, Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Clinical Virology at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The don, the papers reported, had produced a drug with “Aluminum Magnesium Silicate” which was tested on ten persons living with HIV with same reported to have a clinical outcome of an “ability to reach all cells, ” thus making “HIV a conquered organism.”

But just as millions of Nigerians expressed excitement at the news, discordant views trailed the announcement in equal measure even as many doubt the authenticity of the claim by the eminent professor. Earlier in the week, a joint statement signed Dr. Sanni Aliyu and Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) respectively, faulted the ‘unsubstantiated’ claim by the Professor, arguing that there are laid down procedures to the discovery of a vaccine or drug for the treatment of a disease.

“The claim for HIV/AIDS cure is not new. It is not new to find a scientist using ambiguous scientific methods and practices to buttress this claim, and to find obscure journals increasingly prepared to publish these claims,” they wrote, pointing out that the journals in which the findings were published are little known to the medical world.

“To examine the facts, this study (of Professor Ezeibe) was published in two little known, fee-charging ‘predatory’ journals and involved less than ten patients. In the ‘clinical trials’ as reported, there was no evidence of the use of controls, which is the basis of all efficacy trials,” the statement added.

In chat with yours truly, Musa Saint of Society for Family Health, Makurdi, says the claim by the Nigerian don should be subject to clinical verification before the last word on it is heard but warned at the attempt to shout Ezeibe down for daring to try. He said: “There is no proof yet…But there’s nothing wrong in giving individuals the benefit of doubt as well as supporting researches of this nature. There is nothing wrong if the cure for HIV/AIDS comes out of Nigeria.”

Professor Ezeibe’s claim is coming nearly two decades after another top medic, Dr. Jeremiah Abalaka went to town with the claim of a permanent cure for the dreaded killer virus. But with no official eagerness to give him a room to prove his finding, Abalaka later dumped medical practice for business and not much has been heard about him ever since. It is hoped Ezeibe’s case would be different this time.