The imperative of research and development in Nigeria: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Morolake Bolaji, John O. Adeoti and Joshua Afolabi

International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 2021, vol. 13, issue 2, 168-189

Abstract: The advent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threw the world into pandemonium as most countries were unprepared for its sudden outbreak. Industrialised countries swung into action by applying technology to monitor COVID-19 cases while accentuating research and development (R%D) activities to develop COVID-19 vaccines and drugs. However, Nigeria has not significantly contributed to global research efforts aimed at addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic. This paper applied a case study approach and situational analysis to examine the state of R%D in Nigeria relative to other economies. The paper goes on to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on Nigeria's health sector and the economy at large while emphasising the imperativeness of R%D in effectively handling future outbreaks and, thus, achieving economic and technological catch-up. This study revealed that Nigeria remains a laggard in R%D spending as well as R%D activities, particularly in the health sector as exposed by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This further reinforces the imperative for Nigeria to significantly and urgently increase its R%D spending not only to combat subsequent health challenges but also to facilitate rapid structural transformation and economic development.

Keywords: COVID-19; economic development; health sector; Nigeria; research and development; R%D. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=116342 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijtlid:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:168-189

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().