Challenges of research in Africa

BY MELCHIZEDEK ONOBE AND MICHAEL FALOSEYI

A prominent distinguishing feature between developed and developing or underdeveloped countries could be their attitude towards research. While most developed economies commit substantial financial resources to research, most developing and underdeveloped countries need better or more regard for research.

For instance, a 2020 Congressional Research Service report indicates that the emergence of the United States as the leading technological innovator in the 20th century is traceable to the country’s expenditure on research and studies. Specifically, the US accounted for 69% of the world’s total expenditure on research at the time.

Fast forward to the 21st century, the trend was that the world’s leading economies were mostly the same as the 10 most significant spenders on research and studies. They account for 69% of the world research budget, with the US responsible for over 30% of that figure. However, Africa accounts for a paltry one percent of the world’s research budget. The seeming reversal in research spending that has seen the US accounting for about 30% of the world research expenditure valued at $2.4 trillion was not a reversal in the absolute figure, which increased, according to the report. Instead, it indicated other countries’ growing interests in research and development which subsequently aided their position among leading economies.

Ironically, Africa as a continent has continued to remain a laggard. A recent report by the University World News indicates that most African countries spend barely one percent of their gross domestic product on research and development. Specifically, spending on sciences and research increased between 2014 and 2018 by 63% in most countries, with the US and China, the two leading world economies, accounting for 63% of the increase. Contrarily, Africa’s share of the rate of increase was constant at 1.01%. The share of the sub-Saharan countries dropped from 0.44% to 0.42% about the same time.

Research involves systematic, disciplined investigation and rigorous exercise or process of discovery towards an intended purpose, and it is vital to the extent that all technological advancements are research products. Research is what differentiates the previous generation from our contemporary world. It is better to imagine our world without mobile telephones, aeroplanes, effective communication, and technological advancements like the internet. They are all products of research. Research helps unravel new facts and information, assists with verifying available knowledge, and makes us question things that are difficult to understand.

One of the narratives by conspiracy theorists is that COVID-19 is a negative consequence of research activities in some parts of the world. While this is doubtful or debatable, addressing the epidemic would inevitably have been challenging without research findings. It is instructive that while developed economies perceive outbreaks of diseases, epidemy, and social phenomena as opportunities to spend more on research, Africa considers such unfortunate instances as opportunities to go cap in hand, seeking aid and grants from the developed world.

Universities in the US, for instance, took advantage of COVID-19 to increase their research and development budget. 30 universities and research institutes in the US had a combined expenditure of $89.9 billion in mathematics, science, engineering and other fields, an increase of $3.4 billion over the previous year’s budget.

Whereas the value of gross domestic expenditure on research and development of Nigeria, the largest economy on the continent, was estimated at a trifling $1.46 billion for the corresponding period of 2021. Little wonder, John Hopkins University, which had a research spending of $1.71 billion in 2019, became the reference point for the whole world at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak. Other tertiary institutions, research institutes and pharmaceutical companies in the developed world took advantage of the outbreak to break new grounds in research and studies around the epidemy.

Contrarily, Africans’ attempts at rising to the occasion were more of a token which unfortunately was not accepted by the World Health Organization. Advancements in technology and science have assisted humanity in overcoming other diseases and health challenges like Aids and have led to better life expectancy, especially in developed countries, contrary to what obtains in African countries.

Nevertheless, beyond spending, research requires discipline, staying power and the ability to focus. Therefore, Africa needs these qualities rather than quickly resorting to conspiracy theories and superstitions and sometimes waxing spiritual to explain social phenomena. We need the right mindset and attitude towards finding solutions to challenges and explaining our situations. We must desist from a quick fix to an enduring approach to resolving our challenges. Most citizens on the continent with research interests hardly find the enabling environment, funding, and required support to thrive except in the European and American soils. More importantly, the need to invest in data and its storage has become a significant challenge in most African countries. Data is related to infrastructure like electricity supply and reliable internet services.

Additionally, Africa needs to develop the right quality of human resources in their numbers to measure up with the rest of the world technologically and collaborate with the rest of humanity in addressing the challenges of the contemporary world. Commenting recently on the dearth of researchers on the continent at the launch of the UNESCO Science Report entitled ‘The Race Against Time’, the director general, Audrey Azoulay, called for more investment in Africa in research and studies in Africa. He spoke on the need to train research professionals in Africa.

According to the director general, the pool of researchers per million inhabitants grew by 13.7% between 2014 and 2018, an increase of about three times faster than the global population of 4.6% of the world population. That growth rate translated into 8,854 million full-time researchers. Regrettably, the surge was accounted for mainly by China, whose researcher pool grew by 11.5% between 2014 and 2018.

Azoulay justified the need for more researchers because “today’s challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, a decline in ocean health and pandemics, are all global”. Africa must, therefore, be ready to mobilise resources along with the rest of the world in addressing the challenges of the modern world.

According to the 2023 edition of the University World News, some few African countries experienced considerable growth in their population density per researcher. They include Mauritius which increased its researcher density by 86.3%, followed by Ethiopia (67.8%), Madagascar (45.4%), Togo (26.3%), South Africa (21.4%) and Uganda (15.8%).

Meanwhile, with a density of 687 researchers per million inhabitants in 2018, compared to 675 in 2014, Egypt had the highest concentration of researchers in Africa. This is followed by South Africa, with a researcher density of 518 in 2018, up from 432 in 2014.

Notwithstanding these figures, African governments must demonstrate commitment to funding and creating an enabling environment for researchers to excel. Besides, the outcome of research studies must be accorded the needed importance. Appropriate regulations that guide patent rights on research and studies should be implemented to encourage researchers to earn income for their innovations and encourage research as a discipline.

In conclusion, it is of utmost importance for tertiary institutions to be committed to specific social phenomena as their areas of expertise. They must strive and provide leadership in their chosen fields, as performed by John Hopkins University and other US universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not even the unwelcoming attitude of the West towards Africa’s attempt at finding a solution to COVID-19 should be enough deterrent to making similar efforts when next such opportunities arise if at all we want to break through the ceiling technologically.

Writers can be reached via https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-faloseyi or on Twitter @mfalosh