A call has been made for Nigeria to establish well equipped biomedical research centres, provide sustainable government funding and strengthen collaboration among scientists to develop safer, more effective and affordable healthcare solutions.
Professor Chiagoziem Otuechere, a Professor of Phytomedicine and Biochemical Toxicology in the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, made the recommendations at the institution’s 25th inaugural lecture on Tuesday.
Professor Otuechere also called for the establishment of two well equipped Centres of Excellence in Biomedical Research in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to strengthen scientific research and innovation across the country.
According to him, “The proposed centres should have state of the art equipment and facilities, with structured, year round access for scientists working across different biomedical disciplines.”
Otuechere also advocated a presidential mandate to empower biomedical researchers with proven expertise, stressing that such an initiative should be supported by sustainable funding and clear accountability frameworks.
He said, “The researchers should be tasked with developing healthcare solutions that draw on indigenous knowledge systems, particularly Nigeria’s rich ethnopharmacological heritage, to produce treatments that are culturally relevant and economically viable.”
The professor urged the promotion of transdisciplinary research, calling on toxicologists, chemists, physicians, microbiologists and other scientists to work together rather than operate in separate research cycles.
He explained that collaboration among the different disciplines would accelerate the translation of laboratory discoveries into clinical applications, ensuring that scientific innovations address patients’ needs and improve healthcare outcomes.
Reflecting on the relationship between different scientific fields, Otuechere said, “The future of healthcare lies not within a single discipline, but at the intersection of disciplines.
“Nature provides therapeutic molecules, nanotechnology improves their delivery, computational science helps predict their behaviour, while toxicology evaluates their safety.”
He added that the combined approach could support the development of safer and more affordable treatments.
Otuechere also stressed the importance of ethical responsibility and continued scientific investigation, noting that research findings must establish not only what heals but also how treatments work, who benefits from them and the conditions under which they may cause harm.
He expressed hope that the next generation of toxicologists would build on existing scientific foundations through excellence, responsible research and a commitment to improving human health, adding that the integration of nature, nanomedicine and quantitative analysis could strengthen toxicology’s contribution to healthcare.
Nigeria needs biomedical research centres, sustainable funding – Prof Otuechere