By Olumide Olukayode,

Abayomi spoke Tuesday at the 2018 Nigeria Global Health Conference themed “Collaborations, Networks and Partnerships for Health Research Conduct in Nigeria,’ holding at the National Sickle Cell Centre, at Idi Araba, Surulere, Lagos.

The ongoing conference, of which POSTERITY MEDIA, is the official media partner, has hundreds of participants which include medical researchers, doctors, laboratory scientists, academics and other stakeholders in the health and science community, in attendance.

Speaking during his keynote address, Professor Abayomi, who has been a principal investigator on numerous medical capacity development projects funded by the World Bank, National Institute of Health, Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation and European Union, said Africa must no longer solely rely on research funding from outside the continent for its development.

Pointing that the fourth industrial revolution which is the knowledge economy has already started, he emphasized that Nigeria and Africa can still leapfrog the process if money is invested into research and development now.

“One of the biggest funders of research worldwide and in Africa is Bill Gates. We have a large number of billionaires in Africa. It’s time for them to wake up and fund research that will advance the continent,” Abayomi said.

The professor added that those in the medical community particularly need to spearhead the effort. “We need to come together as scientists in Africa and engage more with philanthropic members of our communities. Like Bill Gates is doing, we also need to engage them to do same although that doesn’t in any way take away the responsibility of government. The governments of Africa must put money into research and development. As members of the health and science community, we can lead the efforts to engage them to do that,” the professor further said.

Abayomi, however, pointed out that such engagement must be done the right way through providing government and the well-to-do members of the community useful data that will help them to make informed decisions on why it is urgent to take the needed steps.

“What is the amount governments in Europe are spending on research every year? What is happening in America? What are they spending money on? And what is the level of local funding we are putting into research and development? We have to put all these together to engage them. We must force our governments and our philanthropists to do what they have to do so we can get the result we want to get as a country and as a continent,” the Professor said.

Abayomi’s highly-engaging and well-received keynote address which evidently went beyond the confines of medicine or health research, took participants down memory lane on the history of Africa and how slave trade, colonialism, neocolonialism and corruption have all combined to place the continent on a pedestal of inequality.

He also touched on the environment and types of research needed by Africa now which scientists on the continent must take on.

Before concluding his presentation, he pointed out that the challenges of the continent can be fixed when global health practitioners in Nigeria and Africa work together to ensure that the right political leadership and policies are in place towards providing a better society for citizens and bequeathing a better continent for African children.