By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
As renowned global Scientists and researchers gathered for a week-long researchers conference in Nigeria, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate has called for a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s research landscape from Scientific discovery to translated health solutions.
Prof. Pate who officially opened the SPARK Translational Research Boot Camp and Conference 2026 in Abuja on Monday commended
SPARK for bringing the initiative to Nigeria, said Nigeria must be placed on a global clinical science ecosystem where health security agenda becomes a reality.
He said science and the scientific method remain “the fundamental path” through which societies advance, warning that recent gains in global health and development are fragile amid what he described as a “poly-crisis” of overlapping global shocks.
Speaking further the minister noted that Scientific inquiry is very fundamental to the advancement of human societies.
“Whether it is increasing life expectancy, improving the healthiness of our population, or the reductions we have seen in morbidity and mortality, the advances in medical science came through the application of the scientific method”, he emphasized.
Giving the COVID-19 pandemic as an instance, Nigeria’s health minister noted that pandemics have historically altered the course of human civilization and argued that the world is still grappling with the aftershocks of COVID-19 in politics, economies, and global supply chains.
“We may not be very conscious of it, but there are changes that are happening in the world since the disruption of COVID,” causing many economic imbalances which could be traced to pandemic-era spending.
According to Pate, Nigeria and Africa are presently navigating multiple transitions at once, including demographic, epidemiological, economic, technological, and political shifts, adding that infectious diseases remain a challenge.
“Non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cancers, and cardiovascular illnesses now account for a growing share of illness and death.”
“Our largest segment of morbidity and mortality is now non-communicable diseases. This is happening at the same time as rapid technological change in biological sciences, computing and artificial intelligence, which is transforming how we live and work.”
The minister warned that if technology is poorly governed, it could undermine public trust in science, citing the rise of misinformation, anti-science, and anti-vaccine movements.
Therefore, he charged scientists to pay closer attention to how research findings are communicated.
“The benefit of the scientific enterprise may be left on the table if we don’t communicate well enough,” he said, as he is calling for collaboration with communication experts, sociologists, and other disciplines to the rescue.
Africa’s paradox shows : a population of about 1.4 billion people that accounts for only a tiny fraction of global research spending.
“Very little of the scientific inquiry to find solutions to our problems is funded domestically. Africa has historically been a place of extraction, of people, resources, labour, and now possibly data and knowledge, unless we do something about it.”
Pate connected SPARK initiative to Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, unveiled two and a half years ago by the government, which focuses on governance, service delivery, unlocking the healthcare value chain, and strengthening health security.
He stated that evidence-based policymaking was now central to government action.
“Without evidence, what we are doing is faith-based policy. We are shifting to evidence-based policies and programmes.”
Pate pledged Nigeria government’s support for building a robust research and clinical trials’ ecosystem.
He assured that President Bola Tinubu, who is the patron of the National Academy of Science, was strongly committed to science and research.
He stressed that from the perspective of the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Health Care Value Chain (PVAC), translational research sits at the very foundation of healthcare industrialization.
However, he dismissed the notion that successful translational research was only possible in places like Silicon Valley, citing SPARK’s expansion to Taiwan.
“When we started in Taiwan, there was no biotech industry. Twelve years later, there is a very robust ecosystem, and the success of the SPARK programmes there now matches that of Stanford.”
Prof. Kevin Grimes, Co- Director, SPARK Global stressed the importance of African scientists setting Africa’s research agenda, particularly given genetic and pharmacological differences across populations.
“Healthcare is too important to rely on outsiders to set the research agenda. Products should be developed in Africa, for Africans.”
Grimes cited examples where drugs developed without considering African genetic diversity were less effective, including HIV and breast cancer treatments. “Ancestry determines how we metabolize drugs. If we ignore that, we fail patients.”
He also expressed concern over declining global support for health research. “It’s heartbreaking to see funding cuts and the elimination of programmes like USAID and PEPFAR. We need to become more self-sufficient.”
Earlier, the Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Dr. Obi Adigwe, warned that science itself was under attack globally, pointing to funding cuts, misinformation, and threats against scientists.
Adigwe said, “This is not the first time science has faced hostility, recalling figures such as Archimedes, Hypatia, and Marie Curie, as well as Nigerian health workers who died during disease outbreaks.
“Science is designed to solve problems. If you are afraid of going where problems exist, you shouldn’t call yourself a scientist.”
The NIPRD DG argued that translational research offers a powerful defense for science by delivering tangible benefits to society.
“When people can see products, processes and impact, that is the strongest evidence in support of science,” he said.
He praised Nigeria’s current leadership for prioritising research, describing Prof. Pate as “the biggest champion that science and research has within policymaking,” and jokingly proposed him as a “Global Ambassador for Translational Research,” a suggestion that drew applause from participants.
Adigwe noted that the conference marked a turning point in Africa’s approach to research ownership.
“For years, we abdicated responsibility for our science. COVID showed us that was not sustainable.”
He said Africa had the intellectual capacity and biodiversity to solve its own health challenges, but needed sustained local investment.
According to him, “You can’t keep waiting for people from outside Africa to solve your problems, calling on philanthropists to endow disease-specific research, as has been done in leading global universities.”
As the week-long boot camp continues, participants are expected to engage in hands-on training aimed at accelerating the translation of African research into therapies, diagnostics, and technologies that improve health outcomes and drive economic growth across the continent.
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