Nanotechnology has much to offer Nigeria but research needs support
Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, Nigeria and Algeria lead the field in Africa. Since 2006, South Africa has been developing scientists, providing infrastructure, establishing centres of excellence, developing national policy and setting regulatory standards for nanotechnology. Companies such as Mintek, Nano South Africa, SabiNano and Denel Dynamics are applying the science. In contrast, Nigeria’s nanotechnology journey, which started with a national initiative in 2006 , has been slow. It has been dogged by uncertainties, poor funding and lack of proper coordination. Still, scientists in Nigeria have continued to place the country on the map through publications. The figures show steady growth in Nigeria’s publications. But the performance is low in view of the fact that the country has the most universities in Africa.The research performance is also low in relation to population and economy size. Nigerian nanotechnology research is limited by a lack of sophisticated i...
