In what has been described by peers as a well-deserved honour, the Director-General of the Nigerian Natural Medicines Development Agency (NNMDA), Professor Martins Emeje, has been formally inducted into the Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) along with five other distinguished scientists.
The induction ceremony took place at the NAS T.Y. Danjuma Science Museum & Library in the Wasa District of Abuja. It was held alongside a public lecture titled, “Redefining Cancer Care in the Era of Immunotherapy and Precision Oncology: Implications for Research, Treatment and Policy in Nigeria.”
The newly decorated Fellows are: Prof. Martins Emeje, Director-General, NNMDA, Prof. Omotayo Arotiba, Physical Chemistry, Prof. Festus Okoye, Natural Product Medicinal Chemistry, Prof. Emeka Oguzie, Physical Chemistry, Prof. Olufunmilayo Fawole, Epidemiology and Public Health and Prof. Olukemi Amodu, Genetics/Molecular Biology and Public Health. They were decorated as fellows at the NAS T.Y. Danjuma Science Museum & Library, Wasa District, Abuja, recently.
Prof. Emeje, who was recently appointed Co-Chair of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (STAG-TM), described the Fellowship as both an honourable recognition of his global works and a challenge to do more for humanity.
“Gaining admission into a nation’s academy is the most prestigious milestone that can happen to any scholar because it represents the highest level of scholarship,” Emeje stated. “It automatically opens the most important academic, experiential, and professional doors.”
He added that the collective expertise within the Academy is unmatched. “The academy is made up of scientists who have seen it all. The cumulative knowledge available in that group cannot be found anywhere else. This means the research activities I currently coordinate locally and internationally have just received a big boost; I now have access to the best minds in Nigeria.”
The NNMDA Director-General expressed his determination to leverage this elite network to drive national socioeconomic development.
“I can now easily call upon experts across different disciplines to join our national drive,” Emeje noted. “Furthermore, my work with the WHO requires extensive collaboration, partnerships, and consultation. This group will be a massive resource for us at the global level.”
The event’s keynote speaker, Professor Kunle Odunsi of the University of Chicago, addressed the critical gaps in cancer treatment. He highlighted recent breakthroughs in diagnostics and precision treatment that have drastically reduced cancer prevalence and improved survival rates in developed countries like the United States.
Contrasting these advancements with Nigeria’s high mortality rates, weak management infrastructure, and poor prevention strategies, Prof. Odunsi challenged domestic stakeholders to invest heavily in research and reform national healthcare policies to combat the cancer scourge.
Earlier in the programme, the President of NAS, Professor Abubakar Sambo, charged the newly inducted fellows to uphold the Academy’s core mandate of fostering a robust scientific culture in Nigeria.
“The new fellows are expected to promote scientific culture at the highest level in Nigeria and encourage the younger generation to pursue science and technology,” Sambo said. “They are also tasked with advising authorities to adopt science and technology projects, particularly within the education sector.”
