Scientists are required across the world to carry out research and make developments that will lead to better health care provision for everyone. In Nigeria the number of female scientists is relatively high compared to other countries with similar average incomes. Facilities may not always be ideal, but even with the difficulties they face, they are still able to carry out significant discoveries.
Difficulties in Nigeria
Research work requires long and committed hours of study whichever part of the world you’re based in. However, in Nigeria it can be particularly tough for scientists of all genders and backgrounds. There is a lack of sufficient funding to finance the necessary research and scientists and students have to cope without some of the facilities that those in western universities would take for granted.
For instance, there are frequent power cuts and many students don’t have any access to the Internet or even a working computer. Often scientists will put their own money into their research; otherwise they would not be able to complete their studies.
Dominance of women
Despite the problems that they face, female scientists are doing particularly well in Nigeria. When you look at the total number of academics in the country, females only account for around 14%. However, they make up about 25% of all the professors studying science and technology. This figure is comparable with the number in the USA, which shows that female scientists are performing well and are in line with more developed nations.
Even those at the top of their field still face daily struggles to carry out their important work. This commitment does pay dividends in the end and some of the key scientists in Nigeria are renowned throughout the world for the quality of their research.
In February 2015, three of the leading Nigerian female scientists were presented with a prestigious award during the American Association for Advancement of Science conference. The five women came from Nigeria, Sudan and Vietnam and included four physicians and a mathematician. The group featured women who have made formidable progress in their fields, even in the face of adversity.
Rabia Salihu Sai’id has a post at Bayero University, where she is deputy dean of student affairs. Her research is looking for ways that deforestation in the country can be reduced. She also works with young girls across the northern regions to encourage them back into education.
Mojisola Usikalu works as a senior physics lecturer within Covenant University. She is currently researching the effects on our health of radiation and speaks to other young women about the benefits of studying physics.
Mojisola Oluwyemisi Adeniyi is based at the country’s University of Ibadon. She heads up the physics department’s atmospheric physics and meteorological research team. She has worked to assess the optimal planting times for staple crops.
Fighting the struggles
This band of female scientists manages to improvise and use equipment in different ways in order to meet their needs. For example, at her university Adeniyi has to use her own laptop to conduct regional climate modelling which is essential for her research. She is looking at how the Nigerian climate in the future will impact on the way in which they grow their food. In more developed countries there would be an entire room of computers, but she has fitted her own laptop with eight processing cores, as well as using climate modelling software that she copied while attending a conference.
Aid for female scientists
There is a global push to encourage more women within French and English speaking countries in Africa to take up and remain in research posts. In March of this year, nine grants were provided to researchers in these regions as part of a scheme to boost the percentage of women in scientific fields. The TDR grants were given out to a range of researchers ranging from those fresh out of university to research managers in senior positions.
The grantees included one in Nigeria, as well as scientists in Kenya, Guinea, Uganda, Malawi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Mali and Ethiopia. Dr Jacqueline Azumi Badaki was awarded the finances to fund her study into the factors that promote and hinder those women from different socio-cultural backgrounds from progressing as scientists. It intends to analyse what challenges and barriers there are, both professionally and culturally, for women who want a career in the research industry. The study will also build up a strategy that can be implemented to reduce the numbers of women leaving scientific posts.
This small, but determined, group of female scientists is showing the next generation that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. They have proved that there are no barriers and that with a positive attitude they can achieve anything that they want.
