MTN Foundation, NIMR improve Nigeria’s pandemic response with N100m Oligo Synthesis lab

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Nigeria, like every other country in Africa, had a big challenge with diagnosing the viral disease, and understanding the right response to it. The country was at the mercy of western countries who had access to advanced technology and laboratory. But with MTN Foundation’s intervention, the story now belongs in the past.

During the height of the pandemic, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), reached out to a number of big players in the Nigerian private sector, to establish a lab that aids medical research. However, they did not get favourable responses. According to Babatunde Salako, a professor of medicine and director general of NIMR, “only MTN responded” and granted the request.

Salako said: “MTN, through its Foundation, helped NIMR purchase an Oligosynthesis machine, which cost ‘well over N100m’, and set up the only functional oligosyntesis laboratory in all of West Africa.”

In addition to setting up the lab, MTN Foundation will also help maintain the laboratory for the first year of operation, while NIMR runs the lab effectively and efficiently for Nigeria’s progress. Within the year, the foundation has also been responsible for the training of key scientists and medical experts who will run the lab for the benefit of the country.

Why does this matter?

This is a game changer for medical research and treatment of diseases in Nigeria. Many years ago, Nigerian universities produced graduates of computer science who never saw a computer till they graduated. With time and the penetration of technology, that changed. Now, both computer science majors and also, noncomputer science majors now own computers. That revolution changed the face of education and opportunities for Nigerian students, especially in tech.

In the same vein, many medical and science laboratory students have studied in Nigerian Universities and have never seen an Oligo-synthesiser. They have designed primers and assays in their school labs with no synthesiser,  to test what they have learnt or designed. For some ambitious students, researchers and lecturers, they have had to send their design to the US, UK, or sometimes South Africa for production and pay hard earned foreign exchange for the service. Despite paying for this, they had to wait weeks to get the result back. But all of that has now become history.

With the Oligo-Synthesiser, scientists in Nigeria can now design and develop their own primers in record time. This makes it possible for indigenous production of test kits for COVID-19, Monkeypox, Marburg virus and other outbreak diseases.

A clear example of this is the recent mystery in Kano. In May 2020, Kano recorded dozens of deaths around the city, with no clear reason. At the time, medical researchers involved needed to send samples for testing and diagnosis of the mystery disease. But due to the Covid pandemic and global lockdowns, which meant no flights in and out of Nigeria, it was difficult to get help from abroad. This led to more deaths and no clue on halting the deaths.

With this new Oligo synthesis lab, Nigeria can now diagnose all mystery diseases locally and in a very timely fashion.

Other benefits of the Oligosynthesiser

Beyond the immediate health benefits of the machine, this laboratory puts Nigeria on the map as a leader in science and medicine in Africa. Nigeria can also help other countries across the continent in producing primers needed to cure outbreak diseases. This is a revenue generating project for NIMR and Nigeria as a country.

There is also the interesting angle of saving foreign exchange. In the past, Nigerian scientists and medical researchers spent lots and lots of foreign exchange getting primers and test kits from the US, UK, and other parts of the world. This laboratory also solves that problem. It makes test kits cheaper to produce, saving lives through timely and affordable testing and building local capacity in the area of research.

The word Oligo is a Greek word for “few”, and in science, it means a small portion of a human or organism’s DNA can be taken and synthesised or produced using the oligo synthesiser, and used in treatment of a long list of diseases.

Some of these include neurological illnesses such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease. Using oligo synthesis, it is easy to successfully change a gene and push cutting edge research in gene-editing. This can stop or slow down the translation of a certain gene, and set the tone for the future of personalised medicine in Nigeria.

Oligo synthesis allows for the mass production of a specific DNA fragment, which is one of the medical miracles used in the production of the COVID-19 vaccines used across the world. As a result, Nigeria can use this laboratory for the production of local vaccines for preventing and treating viral diseases in the near future.

Why always MTN Foundation?

Founded in 2004, MTN Foundation is MTN’s corporate social responsibility arm. The Foundation, which began operation in 2005, has sponsored thousands of students through school, and made timely healthcare interventions in the country.

As far back as 2013, MTN Foundation commissioned six mammography and hemodialysis centres across Nigeria. This has gone on to save more lives and treat tens of thousands of people across the country.

Odunayo Sanya, the executive secretary of MTN Foundation, explained that the foundation is committed to improve the health and quality of life of Nigerians. She said: “MTN has committed one percent of its profit (worth billions of naira) since 2005 till date to improving the quality of life of Nigerians through MTN Foundation. What MTN is doing is simply to inspire other players in the Nigerian space to do the same — to commit to improving the lives of Nigerians. We hope to inspire more organisations across the country to run such partnerships.

“The success story of this partnership is a testament to private-public sector partnership. MTN has done one, we need more organisations to do the second and the third, and more. By doing so, we move Nigeria forward.”

MTN Foundation is definitely no stranger to Nigeria and Nigerians; in 16 years, the foundation has reached millions of people, sent tens of thousands through school, funded empowerment projects across various communities and spent more than N23 billion taking care of the Nigerian people. This is yet another commitment to that legacy.