The Ethics of Genetic Research and Biobanking in Nigeria: Philosophical Considerations

This study examines the ethical dimensions of genetic research and biobanking in the Nigerian context, applying philosophical bioethics frameworks to the emerging practice of collecting and storing biological samples from Nigerian populations for medical research purposes. Genetic research involving African populations raises distinct ethical questions about informed consent, community benefits, data sovereignty, and the risk of exploitation by Northern research institutions, questions that standard Western bioethics frameworks do not adequately address. Using a descriptive philosophical design, the study engages with the four principles bioethics of Beauchamp and Childress, communitarian bioethics, and emerging African bioethics scholarship, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. Structured interviews with 15 biomedical researchers, ethics committee members, and philosophy academics in Ibadan and Abuja inform the primary data. The study applies special attention to the philosophical tension between individual informed consent requirements and the communal ownership of genetic heritage in African philosophical traditions. Findings reveal that existing consent frameworks are philosophically inadequate for Nigerian contexts because they assume an atomised individual decision-maker disconnected from communal identity and responsibility. Recommendations include community consent protocols, benefit-sharing agreements, and data sovereignty provisions in genetic research governance. Keywords: bioethics, genetic research, biobanking, Nigeria, informed consent.