The Career Capital Deficit in Nigerian Science: A Global Impact Blind Spot

By emmannaemeka @ 2025-09-03T05:25 (+17)

TL;DR
 

Nigeria faces a “career capital deficit” in science: students graduate with theory but no hands-on skills because labs lack equipment and, even more critically, the funds for consumables. I experienced this firsthand. Having learned PCR abroad, I later gained exposure to vaccine design in Canada. However, upon returning home, I found myself without the resources to extract plasmids or run a Nanopore sequencer.

At Plateau State University, where I serve as Director of Research, I wrestle with the same question: how do we stimulate impactful research when basic tools and training are out of reach?

Through the Centre for Phage Biology and Therapeutics, we’ve begun creating a space where undergraduates and postgraduates can finally do real experiments. But without recurring support for reagents and consumables, progress remains fragile.

The hidden barrier in global science

When people think about the challenges facing science in Africa, the focus is often on underfunding, outdated infrastructure, or brain drain. These are real. But the problem I see every day is more practical and more urgent: the lack of equipment and consumables that allow students to build real scientific skills.

This shortage feeds into what I call a career capital deficit. Career capital refers to the accumulation of skills, credentials, connections, and other resources that allow a person to have a greater impact and more opportunities in their career over the long term. It is like a bank account for your career—every time you acquire a new skill, earn a credential, or gain experience in a valuable area, you are making a deposit. For scientists, those deposits are not just degrees or exams passed; they are the confidence and intuition gained from designing, troubleshooting, and carrying out real experiments. Without access to equipment and consumables, Nigerian students graduate with theoretical knowledge but with almost empty accounts when it comes to practical experience.

A personal lens

I lived this reality myself. During my undergraduate and master’s studies in Nigeria, I never once touched a PCR machine. Not because I wasn’t interested, but because none were available for teaching. The first time I ever ran a PCR experiment was not in Nigeria, but during my PhD at Duke University in the United States. The contrast was striking. In Durham, I met an undergraduate on rotation who was already confidently performing gene cloning experiments, while I, a doctoral student, was only beginning to learn how PCR even worked.

Later, during a visit to Prof. Roderick Slavcev’s lab at the University of Waterloo in Canada, I gained exposure to cutting-edge research on designing and developing vaccines using adeno-associated viruses and bacteriophages. That experience broadened my vision of what was possible. But when I returned to Nigeria, I hit the same wall: ideas and training on one side, but no resources to act on them.

Right now, we are planning to evaluate a potential vaccine against breast cancer, a disease that remains a huge problem in Nigeria. Yet we are stuck at the most basic level—struggling to raise funds just to extract plasmids and buy culture media. And sometimes in the quiet moments, I find myself asking: Can you ever make any real impact under these conditions?

Now, as a faculty member, I see the same story repeating with my students. They graduate having mastered theory but without ever having performed the simplest molecular biology experiments. Even with access to equipment like a PCR machine and a Nanopore sequencer, costs pose another significant barrier. Running a single Nanopore experiment requires three to five thousand dollars in consumables. Without sustained funding, the equipment gathers dust, and the cycle of inaction continues.

Building the Centre for Phage Biology and Therapeutics

This is why we established the Centre for Phage Biology and Therapeutics, a nonprofit research space. With seed support from Emergent Ventures, we were able to set up the lab and acquire some basic equipment.

Our vision is simple: to create a hub where undergraduate and postgraduate students can finally gain hands-on research experience. A place where they not only study theory but also conduct real experiments, troubleshoot, and develop the practical intuition that every scientist needs. But like every other centre in Nigeria, we face the same struggle—how to sustain the flow of consumables. Pipette tips, reagents, flow cells, sequencing kits—without them, even the best-equipped lab falls silent.

The challenge at the university level

As the Director of Research at Plateau State University, I face the same dilemma from another angle. How do you stimulate real, impactful research across an entire university when the basic tools and resources are missing? Faculty members are eager, students are hungry to learn, but without funding, it often feels like we are climbing a mountain without shoes.

I hold onto the hope that one day we can start a structured, high-impact mentoring program for early faculty—something that not only teaches theory but embeds them into real research projects, builds their confidence, and provides the stepping stones to independence. Such a program could ripple outward, shaping how a whole generation of researchers trains their students. But for now, it remains a vision that awaits the resources to become reality.

Why this matters beyond Nigeria

It would be easy to frame this as a local tragedy, but the consequences ripple far beyond Nigeria. With one of the largest and youngest populations in the world, Nigeria holds enormous untapped scientific potential. If this generation of scientists fails to accumulate career capital, then huge reserves of talent will be locked out of meaningful contribution. That is not only unjust—it is globally dangerous.

Imagine the next pandemic emerging from West Africa. If local scientists lack the capacity to sequence, diagnose, and innovate, the global response will be delayed and dangerously dependent on a narrow circle of countries. The same holds true for antimicrobial resistance, food insecurity, and climate-related health crises.

When billions of people are reduced to passive consumers of solutions rather than active producers, humanity’s collective resilience against existential risks is weakened. The career capital deficit is therefore not only a Nigerian problem. It is a blind spot in global preparedness.

Breaking the cycle

Today, the cycle is vicious:

• Without exposure, Nigerian scientists cannot compete globally.
• Without competitiveness, they cannot attract resources.
• Without resources, the deficit deepens.

The solution lies in intentional, systemic investment in:

• Hands-on training pipelines that guarantee every biology student practical exposure.
• Functional infrastructure that is maintained, supported, and consistently used.
• Collaborative programs that embed skills locally and elevate Nigerian labs into genuine sites of discovery.

The Centre for Phage Biology and Therapeutics is one model for breaking this cycle. With stable support for consumables, it can train a new generation of Nigerian scientists, students and faculty who graduate not only with theory in their heads, but with the confidence and skills to contribute to global science.

Conclusion

Every time a Nigerian student graduates without being exposed to the tools of modern science, the world loses a potential problem-solver. Every time a lab sits idle for lack of consumables, humanity’s collective intelligence shrinks.

The career capital deficit may be silent, but its impact is anything but local. Tackling it is not charity—it is a global imperative. If we are serious about safeguarding the future, we cannot afford to leave entire continents of scientists as spectators in a conversation they should be leading.