The creation of a medical research council in Nigeria: processes, outcomes and lessons

The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) was established by the National Science Technology (NST) Act of 1977 to conduct research on diseases of public health importance, train health professionals, and disseminate research findings. Since its inception, NIMR has successfully performed these mandates. However, the NST Act recommends that NIMR can conduct research, but it did not mandate the agency to fund research. This constraint has limited NIMR's ability to play a proactive active role in competitive funding and conduct of research in response to Nigeria's changing disease profile and other emerging health challenges that have occurred in the country in the last two decades. It is necessary to reposition NIMR to become a Medical Research Council with improved funding to make it fit for purpose like the medical research councils in the Gambia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States of America. To achieve this goal, NIMR collaborated with relevant stakeholders including legislators from the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives to successfully create and pass a bill to reposition NIMR into the Nigerian Medical Research Council (NMRC). The factors that contributed to the success of this initiative are the recognition by NIMR staff that it is easier to upgrade NIMR to be a medical research council than to establish a completely new agency, the mobilization of representatives of interest groups including staff from national governmental and international non-governmental organizations, health professional associations, academia, and the media. This article describes the process and outcomes of the interventions that led to the creation of NMRC. Countries planning to establish a similar council will benefit from the initiatives in Nigeria by applying the strategies adopted to implement this initiative in their countries.