Nigeria can’t achieve sustainable development without laboratories – SPAN
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The Scientific Products Association of Nigeria has asserted that Nigeria must invest in laboratory science to achieve sustainable development.
The President of SPAN, Mrs Kate Isa, CEO of Kaychey Laboratories Ltd, was quoted on Tuesday in Lagos, during a press conference detailing the association’s upcoming SPAN Innovate 2025 conference and exhibition.
She emphasised the part played by laboratories and scientific practice in national transformation as central.
“You can’t have sustainable development without science. It does not happen anywhere else in the world,” Isa said, pointing to the necessity of laboratories in health, industry, education, and more.
Isa stated SPAN Innovate 2025, which will be held on October 28–29 in Lagos, brings together government, academia, and industry to place science and laboratory practices at the forefront of Nigeria’s development.
“Science is greater than the foundation of technology. Science is the foundation of all long-term economies. If Nigeria must compete globally and become genuinely self-sufficient, science and laboratory growth must be at the forefront in policy, investment, and national planning,” she said.
She added that the conference will host a scientific exhibition, keynote lectures, panel sessions, and hands-on exercises for free.
“Guests can expect to see good-quality laboratory products, master classes, and training on important topics like DNA extraction and laboratory good practices. The trainings are usually paid for, but this time they will be provided for free during the event,” Isa added.
She urged scientists, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to seize the moment at SPAN Innovate 2025, which she described as “an event where Nigeria’s science community connects, showcases, and grows together. This is the moment for everyone in the system—from students to regulators—to contribute to a legacy of progress.”
Isa went on, “Let us collaborate to bring science and laboratory practice as a leading force in the path of Nigeria’s sustainable national development. Nigeria is the light of Africa, but science will wake us up, and laboratories are at the centre of that awakening.”
The SPAN president stressed the need to renovate the country’s science curricula since now the students are not able to use analogical knowledge in order to perform in a digitalised world.
Do recall that the Federal Government had, last September, announced the fruition of a curriculum review that reduces the number of subjects in the basic and senior secondary education to reduce content overload and improve learning outcomes.
Additionally, Isa also indicated SPAN’s emphasis on bridging scholarly research with real industry practice. “We actively engage researchers to help them with facilities. We have set up an oncology laboratory within Covenant University to facilitate research into genetic causes driving prostate cancer among Black men. We provide laboratories with quality products and training to help them become internationally accredited,” she went on.
The FinLab Chairman and former SPAN President, Chief Uzomba Nwaije, also emphasised the fact that a genuine product is one that has been produced with the support of a laboratory.
“Between the fake and the genuine, the laboratory is the difference. If you want quality products, then you must be laboratory-minded. Whatever cacophony we make about the economy, if we do not support it with laboratories, we are nowhere.”
“In developed countries, laboratories safeguard their citizens by testing food, drugs, and chemicals. Without this setup, we cannot determine the safety and efficacy of what we consume and apply,” Nwaije claimed.
Also, SPAN Vice President and Planning Committee Chairman, SPAN Innovate 2025, Mr Ola Sonola, called Nigerians to embrace scientific thinking, innovation, and practical application as forces behind national development.
He considered the nation’s sluggish progress in science and the imperative to turn that trend around.
“All that SPAN is trying to do is sow a seed in the minds of all of us—the seed of that desire that we feel to go back and start to build,” he said. “You’re part of it. I’m part of it. SPAN members are part of it. We all need to soak it in and carry on with it.”
Also, the MD of Turner Wright Biosciences, Dr Tunde Lawal, said, “There has been significant progress in Nigeria’s standardisation over the last two decades, thanks to self-regulation and collaborations among professional bodies. Conferences like this deepen that progress.”
