**Abstract**

Medicinal plants are a huge reservoir of therapeutic agents for the treatment of human and other animals' diseases. This paper highlights the potential of African medicinal plants for pharmaceutical research and socio-economic development. The paper also provides an insight on the role of medicinal plants in boosting the economy of African countries. Furthermore, the need for the government and private individuals to invest in the cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants has been discussed. Most importantly, the need to encourage collaboration among African countries towards pharmaceutical research into medicinal plants with the view of developing new drugs for the present and future pandemics have been stated. Therefore, the deliberate research into African medicinal plants may be the saving grace of the African continent against dreaded diseases, for cures yet to be discovered lie mainly in the medicinal plants.

**Keywords:** conservation, cultivation, COVID-19, drugs, economy and traditional medicine
