Keynote
address delivered by Professor Nyerhovwo Tonukari at the 3rd South South Annual
Zonal Conference of the Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Thursday 13th September 2018 at the University of Port Harcourt
Rethinking Research
in Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
I
would like to start by asking why should the Federal Government still be happy
in giving university lecturers grants for research? Where are the
commercialized research outputs that warrant further research investments? But
is the Federal Government funding research according to the expected level? Are
we doing the kind of research that will bring development to Nigeria? What have
we as biochemists contributed to the Nigerian economy in terms of development
from our research? Again, what has the Federal Government received in return
for its over 50 years of funding scientific research? What specific products or
processes can we point to in Nigeria that resulted from research that we
conducted? As scientists are we pleased that there is still poverty and hunger
in Nigeria in spite of the vast knowledge that we boast of? How many
biochemists are really contented with their current salaries as well as societal
and economic conditions?
CURRENT
STATE OF AFFAIRS
I
must confess that scientific research is much better now with TETFund funding
some of our researches. Nevertheless, the low level of funding, for instance,
one, two or three million naira research grants will not be enough to conduct
any meaningful research. Hence, what we see in biochemistry journals is a lot
of "effect of X on Y." Many of us have published these kinds of
papers just for promotion and nothing else. Misplaced priorities and papers and
award-chasing are now what characterize the typical Nigerian lecturer.
The
TETFund 2016 Budget was N213.4b, with only a small part of this devoted to
research while most went into capital expenditures and training. Nigeria’s
total Federal Government 2018 budget of N9.12 trillion is less than the amount
the United States spends for medical research alone. The 2018 budget for the
USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) is $37 billion (about N11.5 trillion);
National Science Foundation (NSF), $7.8 billion (about N2.5 trillion); and NASA,
$20.7 billion (about N6.5 trillion). The USA budget for 2018 is S4.094 trillion
which is about 1,250 trillion naira (not 10 times but a whopping 140 times
Nigerian budget). The USA population is 325 million, while Nigeria is 186
million. What a difference!
Considering
the state of our economy, our research must be linked to industries. Our
institutions must partner with industries and source for research funding from them.
For example, about 20% of the research funding at the National University of
Seoul, South Korea is sourced from industries (http://www.useoul.edu/research/facts).
When research is tied to economic results, significant funding will come from
industries. Therefore, our institutions must learn to work hand-in-hand with
industries to build the economy.
Why
is the US economy thriving and its budget so huge? It is simply because it has
so many companies that pay good taxes to the government. Even scientists
including professors are encouraged with grants, cheap loans and venture
capital to commercialize their research and start companies. Several
biochemistry professors move between industry and academia. Hence research
parks and business incubators dots areas with universities in several western
countries. Instead of complaining and criticizing the government, we should
endeavor to become part of the solution by conducting real research that will
lead to job creation and new products. We must learn to work with those from
other fields including engineers, agriculturists, economists and software
developers to make our own versions of products and services that we now
import. There are so much we import that we can easily make in Nigeria. Are we
not ashamed that we import enzymes, vitamins, hormones and organic acids into
Nigeria? Can we not practice some of what we teach by producing these
biochemicals in Nigeria? On the contrary, we export so many assays like
paternity tests abroad that we can easily carry out in Nigeria. We lose so much
foreign exchange. If you are Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, will
you be happy with Nigerian biochemists? Many of us got the Federal Government
postgraduate and now TETFund scholarships to study for our masters and PhDs.
But, the question is, ‘what have we given back to Nigeria in appreciation?’
We
import so much into Nigeria today, that it has become so embarrassing. Many
industries are closing, and several service firms are folding up. So many
things are wrong, and we lecturers and professors are part of the problem. How
many of us have real industrial experience that qualifies us to teach
industrial biochemistry? Why can we not engage our colleagues in industries to
teach part of our industrial biochemistry courses with us? Do we really know
what is currently happening in Nigerian and international industries or we are
just teaching what is in the stale textbooks? Why are we so happy to quote
foreign companies as the source of our chemicals and equipment? We should
patronize indigenous companies and laboratories. How many of you have joined
your local chamber of commerce and industry like I have done? There is no doubt
that we need some encouragement like what China is giving to its industries if
we are to have real strong companies in Nigeria. But we must not wait for such
governmental encouragements. We must do what we can; we need to refocus some of
our research into those areas that will lead to products and services that we
can commercialize and profit from financially.
RETHINKING
RESEARCH
But
what should we really do? It is now time to rethink and refocus our research
such that it will contribute meaningfully to the Nigerian economy. We must
conduct investigations that will lead to products or processes that we can
point to instead of chasing awards, papers and promotion. Commercialization of
research output should be be given a priority. Researchers should be encouraged
to pursue patents in addition to papers so that they can benefit financially
from the research. Also, there is need to introduce challenge researches. Here,
scientists, policy makers, industries and stakeholders will identify real
problems that we need to tackle. TETFUND and other donor agencies will call for
proposals and fund the ones that will lead to solution thereby creating
products and services, and ultimately jobs.
In
addition, there is need for the establishment of strong research collaborations
and consortiums. Instead of giving each individual researcher two million naira
for research which will end up in a meaningless promotion-focused paper,
scientists with different expertise should collaborate to solve specific
problems or create products and services that will promote the economy and
society. Meaningful grants of at least N500m should be given to consortium of a
minimum of 10 collaborating scientists that come from different fields and
universities (including research institutes) to solve specific problems or
create some novel products. Such call for proposals should be made public and a
national panel of experts should screen them and recommend the outstanding ones
for funding.
Biochemists
can work with agricultural biotechnologists to develop herbicide resistant
cassava. Nigeria can easily triple its cassava production if we have herbicide
resistant cassava that will save a lot of labour. I have published two reviews
where I argued that cassava should be considered as white gold because it is
the future of starch and it is going to serve as the substrate for several
industries in Nigeria. As an optimist and futurist, I still stand by my
prediction. Unlike before, we now have several molecular biologists in Nigeria.
What does it take to develop a transgenic plant? Several universities and
research institutes have most of the required equipment and several of us have
the skills to conduct such experiments. All that is required is the boost;
assemble the experts, provide the consumables and give them a deadline. Believe
me, we can do this. We can improve most crops in Nigeria if the funding is
provided. Nigerian molecular biologists are waiting for the call.
We
have been producing alcohol from different raw materials in Nigeria since
pre-historic times. And we have so many grains and tubers to use as substrates for
alcohol production. Then why are we still importing industrial alcohol into
Nigeria? I think some of us including engineers, microbiologists and economists
should come up with proposals to establish mini-alcohol production plants from
cassava and other tubers and grains in all parts of Nigeria. Imagine how many
jobs that will be created!
Can
we not produce better anti-malaria drugs and even work towards the eradication
of malaria? Nigerians have been publishing papers on anti-malarial plants since
the 1960s; yet there is no real commercial Nigerian made drugs in the market.
We have investigated so many medicinal herbs from all parts of Nigeria. I am
confident that with good funding and encouragement, we can produce combined
anti-malarial drugs with better efficacy than the current artemisinin-based drugs that we now import.
And what can we as biochemists contribute towards the total eradication of
malaria? Now that is food for thought. I was involved in a research
that was funded by the British Government in Kenya to the tune of 8 million
pounds (approx. N3.7 billion). The group from 5 countries (UK, Nigeria, Japan,
Cameroon and Kenya) involved biochemists (including myself), veterinary
doctors, virologists, and bioinformaticists, as well as several research
assistants. We ended sequencing the genome of a protozoa Theileria parva, constructed a gene expression library, and
identified 6 antigens for vaccine against East Coast Fever disease that affects
cattle in East and Southern Africa (Figures 1 to 3; Tables 1 and 2). Production
of the vaccine was later contracted to a Canadian company because no such
pharmaceutical companies exist in Africa. We also received a patent for the
antigens and published over 12 articles later. We can also do big research in
Nigeria with adequate funding.
Figure
1. The need for Theileria
parva vaccine.
Table
1. Comparison of Theileria
parva genome to those of Plasmodium
falciparum and Cryptosporidium
parvum.
Figure
2. Targeted gene approach using bioinformatic sequence
prediction.
Figure
3. Random gene expression library screening approach.
Table
2. CD8 T-cell target Theileria parva antigens.
Authors: S.P. Graham, R.
Pelle, Y. Honda, D. M. Mwangi, M.
Yamage, E. J. Glew, N.J.
Tonukari, E. P. De Villiers, T. Shah, R. Bishop, E. Abuya, E. Awino, J.
Gachanja, A. E. Luyai, F. Mbwika, A. M. Muthiani, D. M. Ndegwa, M. Njahira, J.
K. Nyanjui, F. O. Onono, J. Osaso, R. M. Saya, C. Wildmann, C. M. Fraser, I.
Maudlin, M. J. Gardner, S. P. Morzaria, S. Loosmore, S. C. Gilbert, J. C.
Audonnet, P. van der Bruggen, V. Nene, and E. L. Taracha. and Wallace D. Bulimo
DFID, UK and The Institute
of Genome Research (TIGR) USA
“Nigerian Government to import grass from
Brazil” is the headline of a 2017 newspaper article. What a shame! We are all
appalled by the problems facing crop farmers in some parts of Nigeria. Cows
need to eat grass, but it is sickening to even imagine that we need to import
grass to feed our cattle. The only solution to this problem is ranching and we
as biochemists can contribute to the development of supplementary cattle feed
that can be used by mini ranches. We have conducted several investigations and
published several articles on animal feeds in Delta State University. My
colleagues and I have identified an alpha-amylase from Aspergillus niger from cassava undergoing spoilage. The interesting
thing is that this enzyme can be used to pre-treat and enrich cassava peels
such that they can be included cheaply in poultry and pig feeds. We also
sequenced and analyzed (in silico)
the gene encoding the amylase. In addition to cassava peels, we investigated
the inclusion of bitter leaf (Vernonia
amygdalina) stems that are thrown away as waste as well as elephant grass (Pennisetum purpereum) in feeds. These
feeds were tested in poultry and pigs with very positive results, some of which
have been published in research journals (Figures 4 to 7). We even produced and
sold commercial quantities of poultry and pig feeds. We cannot publish all our
results; that will be giving away proprietary information that needs to be
patented. But we are very confident that we can easily produce very cheap supplementary
feeds for cattle if the funding and market is available. There are other
laboratories and groups in Nigerian universities that can also produce these
supplementary feeds using local materials.
Figure 4. Partial
nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of the putative amylase
gene (CDF_Amyl) of Aspergillus
sp.CSA35. The gene has four introns (non coding regions) and five exons (coding
regions) denoted with lower case (italicized) and upper case letters,
respectively.
Figure 5. Substrate
specificity of α-amylases of Aspergillus spp. associated with cassava spoilage.
CSA 25, 26 and 38, fungi from cassava tuber; CSA 27 and35, fungi from processed
cassava (eba).
Figure 6. Weight gains (g)
by the chicks. CPFG denotes cassava peels pretreated with fungus.
Figure 7. Effect of feed
pretreatment on the average body weight gain (Kg) of experimental feeds. CPFG
denotes cassava peels pretreated with fungus.
PERSPECTIVES
AND CONCLUSION
The
biochemistry curriculum as well as research dissemination should also be
revisited. Have we ever involved the industries, laboratories and research
institutes in drafting the biochemistry curriculum? The internet, open access
and online education will jolt our profession like never before. Digital
technology offers us rich, interactive learning environments. Most students now
get more information for their project from Google Scholar and Wikipedia, than
from their library. So, we better start including some bioinformatics, real computer
programming and economics into our curriculum. And if you are happy downloading
and using PDFs of published articles in your teaching and research, you should
also strongly support and publish in open access journals that uploads such papers
online for you to freely access.
In
this era where politics and religion dominate the Nigerian psyche, we as
biochemists and scientists must rise up to challenge the status quo and develop new industries and services. Unfortunately, most
of us are in universities where we are easily burdened with criticisms if we
endeavor
to do anything that is outside farming and religion. Due to lack of facilities
and especially electricity and internet, several professors and lecturers have
now turned to the church to become pastors, while others are taking up peasant
farming to augment their inadequate salary. These are the two activities we
lecturers can engage in with praise and accolades from colleagues and society
and without arousing much criticisms and backlash. But if you dare venture
outside these and make some good money from industry, be ready to suffer some
unpalatable reactions.
Nevertheless,
if we do not change, the future may not favour us as lecturers and also as a
country. High throughput screening and bioinformatic software analyses will
dominate biochemical research in the future. Are we ready for that? Most of the
common assays are now being automated and carried out by robots in several
laboratories and industries in western countries. Artificial intelligence and
machine-based analyses will comb through billions of biochemical and genomic
data to generate advanced molecules, transgenes and bio-drugs. Believe it or
not, instead of expensive spectrophotometers, microscopes and PCR
thermocyclers, our phones and laptops with cheaply attached accessories will be
used to measure absorbance and record various parameters in the future. Many
companies are racing to build a medical device that works with your phone,
which takes your retina scan, your blood sample and you can breathe into it. It
can analyze over 50 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease. It will
be cheap, so in a few years everyone on this planet will have access to world
class medical tests very cheaply. Are we just going to sit back and buy these
future assays and accessories from abroad or compete with them for a slice of
the market?
We
are all very intelligent and hardworking. We have studied those intricate
biochemical pathways, complex genomic expressions and multifaceted signal
transductions. Why can we not translate our unique knowledge to understanding
the pathways of life and proffer unique solutions? We should sever ourselves
from the old and look towards the future. We praise and readily accept articles
published by the big companies in Europe and the United States, and we are
doing nothing whatever to improve our local faculty and association journals.
We call their journals international and score them higher during promotion
exercises. Why are we not going to call our journals local and consider them
inferior? How many of our faculty journals are indexed? How many of them have
interactive and tracking websites? How many of our journals have diverse and
international editors? How many of our association journals are attracting
international authors? How many of our faculty journals have Google Scholar h5
ranking? How many of them have Crossref with digital object identifier (DOI)?
How many of our association journals have digital preservation? We must improve
our own journals to achieve global recognition. We must embrace and publish in
Nigerian and African journals. We must support our local economy.
The
Society of African Journal Editors (SAJE; africaneditors.org) has taken the
initiative to work and promote African journals and provide benchmarks that
will enable these journals effectively serve the global researchers especially
those from the continent. I enjoin all editors and editorial board members to become
members of SAJE so that together we can improve and promote African research
journals.
As
Robert Kennedy once said, “the future does not belong to those who are content
with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid
and fearful in the face of bold projects and new ideas. Rather, the future will
belong to those who can blend passion, reason and courage in a personal
commitment to their ideals.” The future belongs to the bold. I enjoin you all
to be part of the future.
I
thank you all for this opportunity to speak.
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Nyerhovwo
Tonukari, PhD
Head,
Department of Biochemistry
Delta
State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Editor,
African Journal of Biotechnology
http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/AJB
Interim
Secretary, Society of African Journal Editors
http://africaneditors.org/
