Nigerian Trust in Science Stalls at 15 Per Cent, 11 Points Below 2018

Only 15 per cent of Nigerians expressed a great deal of trust in science in 2025, an 11 percentage-point drop from the 26 per cent recorded in 2018 and a marginal rebound from the 13 per cent low of 2020. The figure comes from a Wellcome report published on 10 October, drawing on interviews with more than 140,000 respondents across 140 countries, and it lands just as Nigeria's flagship research funding plan remains legally and financially incomplete.

Wellcome, the London-based global health charity, found that confidence in science has slipped worldwide since the COVID-19 outbreak and now sits below 2018 levels. Nigeria tracks that pattern closely. Some 57 per cent of Nigerians said they had at least some confidence in science, but the core problem is deeper than the pandemic.

What do the vaccination numbers show?

Survey respondents in Nigeria were asked how they would react if a nurse or physician recommended an injection. The results split three ways:

• 35 per cent said they would accept the vaccine immediately.
• 36 per cent said they would first want time to think it over.
• 24 per cent said they never receive any vaccines.

Hesitation is not the same as opposition, and caution should not be dismissed as ignorance, the analysis argues. What matters is whether people receive clear, credible answers. Scientific guidance shifts as new evidence arrives — a normal feature of how science works — but when officials handle uncertainty badly, later revisions get read as incompetence or dishonesty.

Nigeria should also avoid blaming COVID-19 alone. For many Nigerians, the closest contact with science comes not through a laboratory but through a hospital, clinic, pharmacy or a conversation with a health worker.

How closely is healthcare confidence tied to trust in research?

The Wellcome data show a strong link. Worldwide, 43 per cent of respondents with high confidence in their local health facilities also expressed great faith in scientific work, against 26 per cent across the entire survey.

Money worries sharpen the divide. In 2025, 39 per cent of respondents describing themselves as financially comfortable reported a great deal of confidence in science. Among those struggling to make ends meet, the share fell to 20 per cent. Households squeezed by food, housing, tuition and healthcare costs have limited capacity to seek reliable information, and institutions that appear out of touch lose weight with them.

Has the government delivered on its funding promise?

Abuja has announced a scheme that could address part of the shortfall. After Federal Executive Council approval, the Federal Government said in May that it plans to create the National Research and Innovation Fund (NRIDF), targeting annual funding of up to $500 million — roughly ₦673 billion at the official exchange rate — for competitive grants, innovation infrastructure and the commercialisation of research findings.

The pledge, however, is not cash paid out. The $500 million figure is an annual target only. Kingsley Udeh, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, said on 8 October that the exact total could not yet be settled, explaining that the funding model under review would draw from multiple sources, each calculated as an annual percentage. He added that the bill establishing the fund has been sent to the National Assembly.

The initiative therefore has executive approval but no completed legal or financial footing. Announcing a fund is not appropriating money, and an appropriation does not guarantee disbursement. Since the Wellcome report appeared on 10 October, no specific public response from Nigeria's authorities has emerged.

Why do Nigerian universities rely on state funding and tuition?

Nigerian universities depend almost entirely on state allocations and student fees, despite research strengths that could attract corporate investment, yield intellectual property and launch new ventures. The contrast with better-resourced institutions is stark. The United States is believed to have spent $993 billion on R&D in 2024, about 3.4 per cent of GDP. Nigeria's most recent internationally reported figure is 0.22 per cent of GDP — from 2007, with nothing later to compare it against. That statistical gap raises questions about how seriously the country monitors the scientific capacity its development requires.

A concrete benchmark comes from the University of Michigan. Professor Omolade Adunbi, who heads its African Studies Center, described a model with four revenue channels:

• Corporate-sponsored research, where firms pay for work on their technological or commercial problems.
• Licensing of intellectual property, letting universities protect and license commercially promising discoveries.
• Spinouts, through which researchers build companies around campus innovations.
• Strategic research partnerships, funding longer-running research programmes relevant to company sectors.

Michigan's Office of Innovation Partnerships links academics with companies, philanthropic trusts, backers and founders. The university reported $2.16 billion in research spending for fiscal year 2025, drew $170.6 million in corporate-sponsored research awards and helped bring 31 startups into being. Adunbi also cited Larry Page, a Michigan graduate who built Google's PageRank technology with Sergey Brin at Stanford, as evidence of how higher education and invention interlock.

Nigeria keeps licensing new universities, and their value must extend beyond the certificates they award to the skilled people, innovations and economically valuable breakthroughs they produce. Rebuilding trust in Nigerian science rests on institutions that deliver reliable research, protect intellectual property and negotiate commercial partnerships well — and on a government that converts its $500 million promise into a sustainable, transparent and independently run revenue framework.