The Federal Government says it will inaugurate an electronic portal to revolutionise health research proposal submission and approval in the country.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, disclosed this at the opening of a two-day workshop on ‘Electronic Portal Protocol Management System and National Ethics Standardisation Sensitisation’ in Abuja on Thursday.
The workshop is for members of the National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC).
Salako, who was represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr Kamil Shotirere, said the portal would enhance Nigeria’s capacity to conduct an ethical review process of high-quality research that meets international standards.
According to him, the e-portal is expected to be operational before the end of 2025.
“We need to test run it after this training and also see how effectively it is working before we tell the world to submit research proposals.
“We are making sure that before the end of the third quarter of this year, they should start submitting.”
Salako said the workshop was a significant step toward streamlining and strengthening research ethics review processes in Nigeria.
He also said that it was for training the committee members in carrying out their responsibilities in enforcing standards and protocols for ethically conducting clinical research.
According to him, the committee is important in ensuring that researchers observe the necessary ethical guidelines when carrying out research that concerns human beings.
“The committee will make sure that every proposal that is submitted for research passes through the necessary procedure, ensure the research is done properly, and ensure researchers are ethical about the research.
“As a researcher anywhere, you can just log into the portal, make your submission, and if there are fees to be paid for review, you pay it, fulfil all requirements, make all the attachments that are needed, submit it, and they will allocate it to the reviewer.
”The reviewer goes through it, asks questions, and sends you feedback.”
Dr Lolade Adeyemi, Special Adviser to the Minister of State for Health on Research and Innovation, said the Federal Government was committed to providing financial support to research in the country.
She, however, said that the funding was insufficient and some partners were already involved.
Adeyemi identified the Gates Foundation, and the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Centre as supporters of the workshop.
“So once the international community sees that we’re doing this, they will see that this is what they want to partner with and the government has to provide more funding, and they’re doing that.
“If it has to be sustainable, maybe some things have to be paid for.
“We are also trying to have conversations about charging a nominal fee, so we have to find mechanisms of sustainability to be able to pay for this.”
The Chairman of NHREC, Prof. Richard Adegbola, said a major challenge in research was the lack of infrastructural support.
Adegbola said that the infrastructural support was in terms of the way the reports are submitted, reviewed and returned.
He noted that this leads to inefficiency and delay of protocols, noting that researchers with grants support might lose their grants because they cannot start their project until they get ethical approval.
“What the e-portal will do is the investigator will be able to monitor his or her submission in real-time, you will know whether it’s been accepted, whether the period of review is within the base or the time that they have allocated to it.
“The e-portal is going to improve efficiency but also harmonise how we do things across the country.”
In a goodwill message, Dr Collins Mitambo of the Gates Foundation emphasised the importance of strong regulatory and ethical systems in driving innovation and trust in clinical research.
He said that the future of public health and medical innovation in Africa relies heavily on the ability to conduct research that is not only scientifically sound but also ethically robust.
“This two-year project reflects a shared commitment to build systems that protect participants, ensure data integrity, and foster public trust.
“The project will ensure the clinical trial review process is efficient, predictable and transparent.”
Mitambo noted that the optimisation initiative would support the capacity building of regulatory bodies, ethics committees, and research institutions in Nigeria.
