The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi

  • Nigeria to save N127b yearly from cassava flour in bread

    The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) has stated that the country would be saving a whooping sum of N127 billion annually on the 20 percent cassava flour inclusion in bread making.

    The Director General of FIIRO, Prof Gloria Elemo, who disclosed this to select journalists in Lagos at the weekend, noted that the need to reduce import bill on flour led the Institute to developing the recipe of cassava inclusion in bread making.

    Elemo said,  “We have been working on how to reduce the import bill on wheat flour, and after we have tried corn, millet, guinea corn and sorghum composite flour, we found out that cassava inclusion was the best component of composite flour to produce very high quality bread. So we carried out different levels of recipe at 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40% respectively, and we discovered that at 20% level of cassava flour inclusion, that the quality of bread is practically not different from 100 percent wheat flour bread, because of the formulation that we have. We have a recipe that is commercially oriented, recipe that breaks even, recipe that makes profit more than when you use 100 percent wheat flour. That recipe is standardised, we have trained master bakers in the 36 states of the country and everybody is aware.

    “If the local content bill on 20 percent cassava flour inclusion is passed into law, Nigeria would be saving N127 billion annually in terms of conservation of foreign exchange, and would also generate close to 3million jobs annually along its value chain, ranging from the farmers that plant, transporters, suppliers, processors, distributors and others.”

    She disclosed that over 5000 MSEs at the capacity of between 1 – 3 tons output level per day would mean a minimum of six SMEs in the 774 local governments of the country producing cassava flour should this bill be passed into law.

    Professor Elemo stated that FIIRO would be receiving the sum of N1 billion from the government for winning the 2018 best research institute of the year.

    FIIRO boss said, “Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu declared that N1 billion would be added to the 2019 budgetary allocation of FIIRO for taking the first position. For instance, if our 2019 budgetary allocation is X naira, then, N1 billion would be added to it to become X + N1 billion. Again, for me wining the best DG awards is much desirable. For FIIRO to have emerged the best of the 17 parastatals is because of the visionary leadership at the institute. There are so many things that we have not been doing before which we are now doing and things are gradually taking shape. Our major stake holders, which are the Small, Medium and Large enterprises, are feeling our impact.

    “The essence of the whole thing is to discourage the import of the same technology that is manufactured or fabricated locally and to save the country the huge foreign exchange expended on import and maintenance of those foreign machineries. So they looked at all these facilities in all the institutions in terms of infrastructure, in terms of human capacity, in terms of qualifications, efficiency of human capacity. So, these formed the criteria for assessment.”

  • FIIRO chief seeks increased funding for agric

    The Federal Government has been urged to increase budgetary allocation to agriculture to boast food production.

    The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) Director-General, Prof Gloria Elemo, who gave the advice at the fifth convocation lecture of the Landmark University, Kwara State, said poor funding was a major impediment to agric revolution.

    She identified other factors impeding the revolution to include increasing population and the un-quenching thirst for white-collar jobs.

    In the lecture titled: Driving agricultural revolution: A spur for industrial breakthrough and sustainable development, she lamented that 46 per cent of Nigerians still live below the poverty line, irrespective of the huge untapped indigenous technologies in the country.

    She said FIIRO would continue to promote agriculture and improve on its value chain through proper processing technologies to enhance economic growth.

    Dr Elemo said cassava initiates in which over 25 by-products have been developed from cassava; the ready to use therapeutic food for the elderly; the development of nutraceutical for sickle cell anemia patients; the high nutrient density biscuits that can meet one third dietary needs for school-age children are some of agro-based research results from FIIRO.

    She said agriculture, now more than ever, was needed to stimulate growth and development in urban and rural areas through all levels of value chain.

    Lending his voice to the topic of the day, Landmark University Chancellor Bishop David Oyedepo said the institution was poised to revolutionise agriculture, urging graduands to take advantage of the numerous opportunities in the sector.

    To this end, the two institutions signed an MoU to kick-start agricultural revolution through staff exchange, human capacity building, joint ventures and students industrial training.

  • FIIRO perfects strategy to fight unemployment

    the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) says it has perfected strategies to  eliminate  unemployment  in the country.

    Disclosing this at the opening ceremony of a three-day training workshop on ‘Fish Smoking Technology’ held recently in Lagos, the FIIRO Director-General (DG), Professor Gloria Elemo, noted that unemployment should have no room in Nigeria considering the great potential and the abundant human/natural resources available in the country.

    Consequently, Elemo disclosed that the institute will soon start implementing its various job creating strategies in collaboration with some other agencies aimed at reducing unemployment to the barest minimum in the country.

    “One of such programmes is the national Techno-entrepreneurship Development Initiative, an initiative designed by FIIRO with the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, she stated.

    According to her, this initiative has the capacity to train two million unemployed youths and women annually at full implementation, in addition to various numbers of small and medium enterprises that will grow there from.

    “Today’s training workshop could be conceived one of the immediate intervention programme of the federal government to reduce unemployment through empowerment of youths and women who in turn would graduate to be job providers rather than job seekers”, Elemo said.

    Commending FIIRO, Mrs Bolaji Daniel, Coordinator of the Ikorodu Fish Farmers stated that by being trained by FIIRO, the international market would no longer reject Dried fish from Nigeria.

    She noted; “This training will help us to do the right thing, in terms of moisture content, nutrition composition, and all the processes of cleaning up which we never knew. A lot of people smoke fish, but without the real knowledge and training.”

     

  • FIIRO trains women, youths in fish export

    To address the unemployment, youths and women across the  country are undergoing training at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) on fish smoking technology aimed at equipping them for export of dry fish.

    Speaking during the opening of the  workshop on ‘Fish Smoking Technology’ (Batch B) in Lagos, FIIRO Director-General/CEO, Prof Gloria Elemo,  disclosed that at the end of the training, participants would have armed themselves with the requisite knowledge to produce high quality smoked fish for the local and foreign market.

    Elemo noted that unemployment should have no room considering the great potential and abundant human/natural resources available in the country.

    She pointed out that FIIRO will soon start implementing its various job creating strategies in collaboration with some other agencies aimed at reducing unemployment to the barest minimum in the country.

    “One of such programmes is the national Techno-entrepreneurship Development Initiative, an initiative designed by FIIRO with the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” she said. According to her, this initiative has the capacity to train two million unemployed youths and women annually at full implementation, in addition to various numbers of small and medium enterprises that will grow there from.

    “The training could be conceived one of the immediate intervention programme of the federal government to reduce unemployment through empowerment of youths and women who in turn would graduate to be job providers rather than job seekers,” Elemo added.

  • Board urged to move FIIRO forward

    The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, (FIIRO) Director-General, Prof. Gloria Elemo, has urged its new Governing Board on policy direction to move the institute forward.

    She made the appeal during the inaugural meeting of the new governing board with the institute in Lagos.

    The new governing board has Dr. Ibrahim Gwarzo as Chairman and  Elemo as Secretary.

    Others include Dr. Tokunbo Fayokun, Mr. Chuks Ololo, Alhaji Tajudeen Umar Na’Abba, Mr. Harami Balami, Prof. Saburi Adesanya, Mr. Baker Adewale, and Dr. Manasey Gwaza.

    “The constitution of the governing board was long overdue, knowing the importance of boards in articulating policy directions and its role in improving organisations.

    “The profiles and calibre of the chairman and members of the board, who are men and women of excellence, great knowledge and experience show that the future of the institute is bright,” Prof Elemo said.

    The FIIRO D-G added that with the new board, the horizon is now clear and the time ripe to move the institute to the next level.

    She intimated the chairman that in the last seven years, the institute had worked diligently to lay a solid foundation for the next level.

    Elemo said the management has been able to move the institute from obscurity to limelight and has taken back the lost glory of the institute.

    She said the organisation’s visibility had improved tremendously both in government and the private sector.

    The FIIRO D-G said the institute has recorded major and outstanding achievements relevant to the programmes of the Federal Government, especially those relevant to the major pillars of the economy.

  • Ooni foresees bright economic future for Nigeria

    Ooni foresees bright economic future for Nigeria

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja 11, said the nation would bounce back on track in spite of the present economic challenges facing it.

    Oba Ogunwusi said this during the courtesy visit by some management staff of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, (FIIRO) to his palace on Thursday, in Ile-Ife.

    He said that the country needed to engage its citizens, particularly the youth in empowerment programmes to be able to achieve the expected economic growth.

    The royal father said the nation’s strength lied in its human capacity, adding that there was need for continuous empowerment programmes.

    Ooni lauded FIIRO’s management’s readiness to support and partner with the palace on its proposed empowerment programme and provision of employment for youths in Ife, Osun and the country at large.

    He said the country was blessed with such an institute which had come up with several products, relevant to the planned empowerment programmes.

    The royal father commended the management of FIIRO for its continuous commitment in ensuring self -reliance among Nigerians, saying this would help reposition the country to compete favourably with its counterparts.

    The monarch said that there was a ‘renewed hope’ for Nigeria and thousands of youths that were jobless to be gainfully employed as agro-entrepreneurs.

    Ooni urged small and medium firms, stakeholders, individuals, local, state and Federal Government to partner with FIIRO.

    Oba Ogunwusi pledged full support for the institute and urged its management to continue to ensure that it maintained quality products that could boost patronage locally and internationally.

    He also urged Nigerians to always patronise made-in- Nigeria products so that the country could reduce its imported items and boost foreign exchange income.

    Oba Ogunwusi assured the team that the Ife citizens would not relent to give the institute plots of land to set up an institute for training programmes.

    The Director-General of FIIRO, dr Gloria Elemo, commended the royal father’s efforts in ensuring that youths and widows were empowered.

    Elemo said that the institute would give its technical support to ensure that the “empowerment programme becomes a success’’.

    She said that the Federal Government’s had always insisted on the diversification of the economy from the oil- sector.

    The director-general said that it was obvious that the agriculture sector could help boost the nation’s revenue which was dwindling because of fall in crude-oil prices in the international market.

    Elemo also said that adequate provision of agro-processing tools to youths and widows who want to be self- employed was necessary to improve their production capacity.

    She insisted that agriculture without value added chain could not sustain the economy.

    Elemo said that FIIRO understood that and in its 60 years of existence, continued to improve in its agro-processing methods and tools to make farming less stressful.

    According to her, FIIRO is the best in processing solid minerals, crops like cashew, cassava, yam, fruits, plantain and fish among others.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the director-general presented over 200 researched and packaged products in various form of powder, juice and wine.

    She also showcased some machines to the royal father which she said were available and at affordable prices.

    He said if the three tiers of government, individuals could partner with FIIRO, there would be poverty alleviation in the country, thereby, making youths to be gainfully employed.

    Elemo called on Nigerian youths to be focused and ready to establish themselves without waiting for government.