Establishment of a Standing Ethics/Institutional Review Board in a Nigerian University: A Blueprint for Developing Countries

An ethics/institutional review board (IRB) was established according to International standards at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. To achieve this, a private-public partnership was developed to support a review of prevailing practice and the development of necessary infrastructure for an effective IRB. An internationally registered and well-constituted IRB with a federal-wide assurance (FWA) from the National Institute of Health in the United States was established within a year. Over a 3-year period, the number of proposals reviewed increased by 150% while time to approval decreased by 62%. International collaboration and external research funding has increased substantially. These findings support our initial supposition that the development of a properly functioning IRB can be a catalyst for increased research productivity at academic centers in developing countries while ensuring the protection of vulnerable human research subjects. The University of Ibadan is now assisting other academic Institutions in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa with the establishment of their own IRBs.