Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said that the state would explore ‘ home- grown solutions’ in the prevention and cure of COVID- 19 in the state.

Makinde said since Nigerians had their ways of dealing with flu, catarrh and cough differently from the Western world , the state would devise a cure .

The governor said this during a briefing shortly after the state ’ s COVID- 19 Task Force meeting held at the Government House, Agodi , Ibadan .

He said as part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus in Oyo State , the government was already working on laws that would compel the use of face masks.

Makinde, said , “ We are looking at local solutions. I know that a lot of people have been calling me all sorts of names on the social media but , from my experience , one thing that I know you have to do to conquer the virus is that you have to boost your immunity . We do have local solutions and , of course , we have to defer to experts ’ opinion as part of the home -grown solution to deal with COVID- 19 .

“ People may ask if we have been funding the research institutes very well. They may even ask if we are in a position to bring any kind of solution to the world . My answer is yes . Even chewing something like bitter – cola . When the western world was having flu season , they had flu shots. But here , we have things like catarrh . When we are crossing over from dry season to rainy season , people always fall sick . Cold , cough , catarrh , we have ways of dealing with all of these locally . ”

The governor said the isolation process for the two new confirmed cases of COVID- 19 had already been initiated and contact tracing and collection of samples had commenced .