The Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) has raised the alarm over a growing exodus of researchers and scientists from the country, saying the trend poses a grave risk to the nation’s research base and long-term development.
Oladoyin Odubanjo, the academy’s executive secretary, told journalists in Abuja on Monday that while the outward movement of health workers has been widely discussed, an equally troubling haemorrhage of researchers is underway.
He warned that the drain of early-career and mid-career scientists undermines mentoring, continuity and the collaborative networks essential for productive research.
“One of the big areas people are not talking about is the migration of researchers. We know about health workers and all, but researchers are also leaving. Many of our young researchers are leaving. They are leaving in their numbers, going to look for career paths, and other countries are taking them away. If we have no people, then there will be no research,” Odubanjo said.
He explained that the departure of skilled researchers weakens institutional capacity, noting that scientific progress depends on sustained interaction between senior scholars and emerging researchers.
The drain, he added, could set back efforts to tackle local challenges that rely on home-grown scientific expertise.
Odubanjo, however, expressed guarded optimism that policy reforms and improved funding mechanisms could stabilise the situation.
He singled out recent moves to ease restrictions associated with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as a positive step that should make research grants more accessible.
“Before now, even when researchers got grants, the funds went into TSA, and accessing the money to buy reagents or go to the field became extremely difficult, especially when approvals were centralised in the Federal Capital Territory,” he said, explaining how delays impeded fieldwork and data collection.
The NAS official urged sustained interventions to improve working conditions, expedite grant disbursement and create clear career pathways to retain talent. He stressed that addressing administrative bottlenecks and boosting direct funding to research units would help reverse the migration trend.
With several policy tweaks already under consideration, Odubanjo said the academy expects a gradual recovery in the research ecosystem if reforms are implemented and funding flows improve.
He called on government, private sector partners and international collaborators to prioritise measures that would make scientific careers in Nigeria competitive and sustainable.
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