The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Director-General John Obafunwa has said more than 95 per cent of the institute’s research grants are from foreign donors and sponsors.

He listed them as World Health Organisation (WHO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Longrich, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other institutions and organisations.

The professor said there was an urgent need for the nation to recalibrate its focus on our health needs and medical research with local contents.

He appealed to the government, legislators, private sector and philanthropists, among others, to invest in NIMR to develop local contents.

Obafunwa said on Monday that with the right funding the institute has the human capacity and equipment to develop diagnostic kits and medicine for all prevailing health conditions in the country.

The DG, who listed inadequate funding for research and insufficient running cost as a huge challenge to the institute, said: “We want to appeal to the government and private sector to invest.