Minister of state for health and social welfare, Tunji Alausa says the federal government is determined to make Nigeria the hub for medical and clinical research in West Africa.
This will be done through striking a delegate balance between advancing scientific knowledge and protecting the rights, safety and wellbeing of research participants.
Over the years, the lack of regulations to support and promote health research in the country have been evident.
While the country has developed a regulation document for health research ethics, compliance to this document has largely been affected by the lack of legislation.
This time around this issue is going to change with the drive by the present administration to ensure optimal protection of Nigerians partaking in research studies.
At the inauguration of the third batch of new members of the national health research ethics committee, the minister of state for health stressed that the committee must strike a balance while maintaining the highest standards of medical and health-related research.
The newly formed commission will enforce standards and guidelines for conducting ethical pre-clinical and clinical trials in the country.
This group will play a part in generating new paths for healthcare research by adhering to strict principles of human dignity, transparency and integrity.
