The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FIIRO

  • FIIRO woos Unilever on R&D commercialisation

    FIIRO woos Unilever on R&D commercialisation

    Consumer products giant, Unilever Plc and the Federal Institute for Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) are poised to seal a bilateral agreement on commercialisation of some of the research products of the institute.

    This was disclosed when a technical team from Unilever Plc visited  FIIRO office in Lagos.

    On the occasion, FIIRO Director-General Prof Gloria Elemo showed some of the researches to the delegation; saying the institute was well endowed to deliver at all time and that it was open to collaborations with Unilever in various areas.

    She called for collaboration on  product development and commercialisation, adding that the raw materials, crops and technical back-up for the exploitation of research results were available and in the right quantity and quality.

    Prof Elemo stressed that FIIRO was well positioned to see to the transfer of appropriate technologies that could catalyse industrialisation, urging  organisations and individuals  to invest in the various products that the institute had perfected.

  • FIIRO woos Unilever on R&D commercialisation

    FIIRO woos Unilever on R&D commercialisation

    Unilever Plc and the Federal Institute for Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) are poised to seal an agreement on the commercialisation of some research products.

    This was disclosed  when a technical team from Unilever Plc visited FIIRO in Lagos, during the week.

    FIRRO Director-General Prof Gloria Elemo displayed some research work to the delegation, saying the institute was well endowed to deliver any time, and that it was open to collaborations in various areas.

    She called for collaboration with Unilever on product development and commercialisation, adding that the raw materials, crops and technical back-up for exploitation of research results were available in the country and in the right quantity and quality.

    Elemo stressed that FIIRO was well positioned to effectively see to the transfer of appropriate technologies that could catalyse industrialisation.

    She said this could only be meaningful if organisations like Unilever and individuals looked inwards and invested heavily in the various areas of Research & Development (R&D) products that the Institute hadperfected on.

    “Many companies come and pick the technologies we have here and we work with them. You can come and do same. We have a lot of evidence to show our competence in the areas enumerated.

    “Today, all the breweries in Nigeria use our technology since sorghum malt replaced barley malt in the brewing industry (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink) and this has saved the country several millions of dollars,” Elemo stressed.

    Some of the areas FIIRO boss said Unilever could leverage include food spread (jam and marmalade), cashew nut processing, fruit processing technologies  (for fruit juice extraction and bottling ), industrial enzymes production, essential oil extraction, adhesives production, soaps ,cosmetics, and  antiseptics.

    Responding, the leader of the Unilever delegation, Bridget Mayor, was amazed at the level of activities going on at the institute. She said the visit was an eye-opener to what FIIRO could do, and expressed the company’s readiness to tap into some of the research results.

    Mayor, who is the Head, R&D in Food Development Homecare at Unilever, stated that with what the team saw, their only worry would be FIIRO’s readiness in terms of guaranteeing quantity and quality of raw materials, compliance with international standards and technology transfer that could sustain commercialisation.

    She specially noted that Unilever was interested in corn and cassava starch production and spices, such as onions and garlic.

    “We are ready to partner FIRRO. FIIRRO needs to allay these fears in the above areas for immediate partnership agreement. Design and fabrication, are they world-class? Claim performance test, is it available in terms of infrastructure?” she asked.

    The FIIRO chief while assuring the team of world-class standard in its products, however, observed that organisations such as Unilever should ensure effective technology transfer to aid the commercialisation of available raw materials.

  • UN aligns with FIIRO to promote Nigeria’s competitiveness   

    UN aligns with FIIRO to promote Nigeria’s competitiveness   

    Having identified the impact of research developed by the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) on the economy, the United Nations has pledged an alliance with the agency to realise its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and products competitiveness for Nigeria.

    The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, on a working visit to the agency in Lagos on Thursday, said he was impressed and inspired by how African scientists were breaking new grounds to improve value of local products through technology.

    “I am here to see how together we can work to see that more technology is available for young people to be entrepreneurs and add value to Nigeria’s economy,” he said.

    Kallon noted that the quest for industrialisation is the core of the United Nations SDGs and that Nigeria had the potential to succeed, stressing that the country’s success was Africa’s success.

    “You have depended too much on oil but I am glad about the reorientation agenda of your present government. Diversification is the way to go, especially in the agric sector.

    “We can also do a lot in the solid mineral sector. Nigeria is too big to fail. If Nigeria succeeds in sustaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), then all Africa succeeds,” he said.

    He said he will sustain his advocacy for FIIRO because technology upgrade was needed to drive industrialisation, adding that medium and longer term aspirations must be placed before the short-term aspirations of political leadership on the continent.

    “The drive towards diversification may have started late, but it is the way to go, in order to stimulate growth and foster Africa’s emergence as a resourceful continent,” he said.

    He said that the United Nations Development Framework has been finalised and aligns with Nigeria’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) and Vision 2020.

    Kallon said that the framework revolves around the SDG that aims at job creation, poverty alleviation and empowerment.

    “The UN framework has moved from the ownership perspective to partnership and partnerships would remain a central theme of our relationships. We have tried to link the new partnership framework to the SDGs,” Kallon said.

    According to him, the UN system will be working towards three key outcomes from 2018 to 2023.

    He listed the outcomes as peace and human right, quality and social services and inclusive economic growth and development.

    Kallon said that FIIRO had impact on all the SDGs, adding that UN would collaborate with it on all technological innovations for job creation.

    The UN official urged FIIRO to base its research on promoting a market demand driven strategy in identifying areas of investment rather than prescribing areas of investment.

    Earlier, the Director-General of FIIRO, Prof. Gloria Elemo, said that the visit would redefine the institute’s collaboration with many UN organisations.

    Elemoh said that working with FIIRO, the UN would achieve a lot more for the betterment of Nigeria and Africa as a continent.

    “I am confident to let you know that the institute would be very relevant to the UN programmes on sustainable development, poverty eradication, food and nutrition security.

    “FIIRO prides itself as the home of indigenous technologies and as technology providers to the micro, small, medium and large sized enterprises,” Elemo said.

    She said that the institute’s technologies had relevance in all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria and is suitable for job creation.

  • NB, FIIRO, others for Propak exhibition

    Leading national organisations, such as Nigerian Breweries (NB) and the Federal Institute for Industrial Research (FIIRO), have indicated their interest to participate in the largest packaging, printing and plastics exhibition in the region, Propak West Africa, which opens on Tuesday, September 20 at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    In a statement, George Pearson, one of the organisers said no fewer than 300 participants were being expected at the three-day event. He said the manufacturing sector in Lagos is vibrant and the Food and beverages sector, which represents over 30 per cent of the industry, is one of the most in the country. With the demand for packaged food and drink growing, industry players were looking to increase their capacity to meet demands. About 85 per cent of these market players were small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), who accounted for a large percentage of the sales.

    Pearson said: ‘’At Propak West Africa, 80 per cent of our visitors are SMEs in this sector and, as such, this year, we have put extra emphasis on the food and beverage markets. Our exciting programme will see leading industry experts present on topics around branding, innovation and technological solutions in this sector. It will allow participants the opportunity to gain important insights from multinational corporations, such as Diageo and This year’s show has a particular focus on branding, a very important topic for SMEs seeking to build awareness. We have some exciting sessions lined up to cover this topic, including the impact of branding on sales turnover, labelling and brand positioning.’’

    Papers would be delivered by experts, such as Baba Epega, founder and managing Director, Emc3; and Lampe Omoyele, managing director, Nielson West Africa. Fauzi Fahm, a brand expert,, will be moderating a panel on packaging innovation.

  • 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.

  • FIIRO chief: food security is achievable through SDGs

    Efforts at achieving food security and improved nutrition can be accelerated by adopting the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development  Goals (SDGs) agenda, the Director–General, Federal Institute for Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Dr. Gloria Elemo, has  said.

    The SDGs aim at ending poverty by 2030.

    Mrs Elemo stressed that food and nutrition security must be viewed as essential dimensions of sustainable development and approached as critical elements in achieving government’s goals to make food available and affordable for Nigerians.

    In a paper presented at a forum in Lagos, she said unless the government was pragmatic enough to target the most-vulnerable, such as the poor, women in rural areas, small holder farmers, and those in parts of the North affected by insurgency, food security may not be achieved.

    The paper titled “Achieving Food Security and Improved Nutrition in Nigeria: Making the SDGs Work for Us”, canvassed the need to deploy science & technology in tackling issues ranging from yield and productivity, bridging yield gap, addressing post-harvests losses and effective management of the natural resources.

    Elemo said: “Science, technology and innovation are key to a robust transformation in the food system that will lead to increased agricultural production and productivity. It would also expand local agro-industry and value addition and improve management of natural resources for sustainable agricultural production”.

    The FIRRO boss said the research institute is poised to making significant contributions to food availability through processing, provision of prototype agricultural processing equipment and technology transfer. It also hopes to reduce post-harvest losses through processing and preservation of foods.

    Others are increasing food access through entrepreneurship training and women empowerment workshops as well as increase in job opportunities. This, Elemo said, will translate to improvement in incomes and also lead to more purchasing power for people.

    She, therefore, asked that science and technology innovation policy as recommended by the Ministry of Science & Technology be fully implemented such that strategies laid out for every sector including agriculture, water resources, and raw material production and linked to improving food security and nutrition can work in line with the  SDGs.

  • DG calls for collaboration between FIIRO, NIFST

    DG calls for collaboration between FIIRO, NIFST

    The Director General of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Lagos, Dr Gloria Elemo, has called for a working relationship between the research body and the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST).

    Addressing the executive members of the body who paid her a courtesy call at her office at Oshodi, Lagos, Dr Elemo expressed her sincere appreciation to the NIFST for the support the institute and the Lagos chapter has been giving to the research institute.

    She said:”You will agree with me that you are coming on board when the economy of this country is at the verge of collapse, hence there is need to tighten your belts for a lot is expected of the NIFST.

    “It will interest you to note that the Federal Government has brought out a list of products whose importation has been banned. Hence many in the business are forced to change focus and look inwards. The NIFST needs to quickly seize this opportunity to come to the rescue of the nation to provide the needed mechanism for such entrepreneurs to ride on.

    “There is, therefore, an obvious need to turn the Nigerian economy around and improve the current food security status via the micro, small and medium scale enterprises. We need to work hard and reduce our dependence on imported foods that could be locally manufactured, using indigenous technologies.

    “To that end,  the NIFST, having members all around the globe, stands a good chance in identifying partners, sensitising them to look inwards and endeavour to add value to our agricultural crops that we are endowed with before exporting them to other countries.

    “We have the expertise, hence no need to import experts. The NIFST must rise to this occasion and through your organized fora, endeavor to always stress the need to become a ‘producing’ nation and not just a ‘purchasing and consuming’ one.”

    In his response, the Chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the NIFST, Mr Sunday Bamgbose, thanked the FIIRO DG for allowing “FIIRO to more or less be the permanent home of the NIFST from time immemorial, playing host to our chapter regular monthly meetings and some of our special events like the NIFST day and other activities.

    “I will not fail to mention sponsorship and other forms of support. For all these, I say a big thank you on behalf of the institute and Lagos chapter.’’

    Bamgbose stated that the new exco team of the NIFST is determined to take the institute to the next level and requires the support of all to achieve it.

  • FIIRO urges participants on skill acquisition

    FIIRO urges participants on skill acquisition

    The Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos  has urged training participants to use their acquired skills and competencies immediately.

    Its Director-General Dr Gloria Elemo made the appeal during the closing ceremony of the Techno-Entrepreneurship Development Training for Ubulu-Uku Youths, Delta State.

    The three-day training was centred on five technologies, including: smoked fish, fruit juice and high quality cassava flour, instant pounded yam flour, bread and confectioneries baking.

    She also urged them not to be deterred by any challenge or barrier they would face while becoming business owners and employers of labour.

    According to her, acquiring a skill is just one of many steps to becoming the entrepreneur of one’s dream; taking a step further to starting the business is another big step. “I can assure you that you will find several reasons why you cannot start now, though some of these reasons cannot be ignored totally, especially start off fund. I want you to know that once there is a will, there will always be a way,” she said.

    She also told them of  a collaboration between the Institute and the Bank of Industry (BoI), a Federal Government-owned development bank charged with funding projects.

    Dr. Elemo told the participants that by taking part in the training, their names have been registered on the institute’s database to be forwarded to the BoI. She added that BoI would aid them in funding their projects, be it small, medium or large scale.

    She also called on the elders of Ubulu-Uku to set up a fund to assist younger generation especially those that are willing to be self reliant and create employment for further generations. She said through such funds, cluster processing centres would be established in collaboration with local and state government to fast track enterprise take off with equipment and machines.

    The FIIRO DG said they could take their raw materials to these centres, process them for a token and market their products until they generate funds for their own equipment.

    She urged some of them that are desirous of starting immediately to take advantage of the contract production scheme of the Institute to enable them forge ahead.

    The DG while congratulating the participants, told them that she was looking forward to reading their stories in the nearest future, in the Institute’s future edition of “250 Successful FIIRO Entrepreneurs: How we made it”.

    A participant, Mr. Mathew Abioye, who showed a lot enthusiasm for the knowledge he acquired in the training, said if local entrepreneurs are encouraged with funding and the necessary infrastructure they have the capacity to reduce the high unemployment rate of youths.

    He encouraged other participants not to lose faith in the country but rather put in their best to make the training worth it.

  • FIIRO’s land research raises farmers’ income

    FIIRO’s land research raises farmers’ income

    The Director -General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO, Dr. Gloria Elemo, said the institute is focusing on increasing farmers and processors’ income by asking scientists to take scientific technology and results to the field to raise productivity.

    Speaking while receiving members of the management team of West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP-Nigeria) in the institute in Lagos, Elemo said there is need to take scientific technologies to agriculture and industries to boost farm production and meet growing food demand.

    She said FIIRO in its 58 years of existence has developed over 250 technologies and completely packaged 50 of them ready for immediate commercialisation.

    Besides,she  said  the institute  has  trained over 75,000 techno-entrepreneurs directly on its various developed technologies and over 500,000 in collaboration with other organisations such as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)), National Directorate of Employment (NDE) among  others.

    She said about 25 technologies are transferred on weekly basis to prospective investors and numerous entrepreneurs have established manufacturing businesses based on the technologies they acquired.

    According  to her, the  institute  has  recorded major breakthroughs in the development of process technologies/products that led to national policy formulations by the Federal Government, especially in the banning of importation of some raw materials and products.

    Some of these technologies,she  mentioned   include; sorghum malting and brewing of 100 per cent  sorghum beer, baking of bread and confectioneries from composite flours, cassava flour production, production of fruit juices from Nigerian fruits among  others.

    Mrs  Elemo  said the  institute   focused on industrial and  agricultural research in areas of national  interest, and   to help farmers  and  entrepreneurs  make better decisions and improve productivity.

    According  to her,  raising agriculture  and  industrial productivity to meet the increasing demand for quality and quantity of food, is one of the most important challenges facing the  country.

    She  reiterated  that  FIIRO  aims to actively look into problems  and develop sustainable solutions to help farmers and industrialists  to solve their challenges and improve food output to feed the growing population .

    The National Project Coordinator, WAAPP-Nigeria, Prof. Damian Chikwendu said the programme was set up to address  pressing  challenges affecting  food   production through research.

    According to him, WAAPP Nigeria partnership with universities, research organisation and  Federal Colleges of Agriculture to   find solutions  that  will   enhance crop yields and productivity,and improve delivery of quality food to Nigerians.

    Addressing these challenges,he  noted  requires innovation along the whole food chain that is why  the  programme is  establishing  collaborative partnerships to drive forward projects resulting from the workshop and make a tangible difference to the future of food.

    He praised FIIRO’s DG , Dr. Gloria Elemo, and the management for their feats and excellence entrenched in FIIRO ,especially with their rich human resource base and the area of human capital development.  He said WAAPP will be working with FIIRO to disseminate available technologies in her crop priority commodities such as   cassava, rice, yam and sorghum; by supporting increased production of extension publications and entrepreneurial trainings of the Project’s beneficiary’s with trainees drawn from her supported value chain innovation platform, adopted villages and schools, amongst others.

    The NPC was conducted round the institute’s engineering workshops, cassava processing plant, and the food &analytical laboratories among others.

    He further requested FIIRO to explore research on  converting egg yolk to powder form, and drying of onions.  The visit concluded with an agreement from both sides to collaborate and ensure that available technologies within FIIRO are commercialised. WAAPP-Nigeria ,before the close of last  year, had  opened discussions with FIIRO  on modalities for collaboration and consequently signed a memorandum of understanding. A couple of proposals were submitted to WAAPP by FIIRO for possible areas of collaboration. To further verify and make well informed decisions on the proposals and strengthen ties with FIIRO, the need for WAAPP visit to FIIRO in Lagos to hold further discussions with the Director-General became paramount. This is in line with WAAPP component three  of funding agricultural research and accelerating and promoting technology adoptions.

    While in Lagos, the NPC also visited the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority and the WAAPP-sponsored Fish Cage Culture site at Bayeku/Igbogbo in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State; and the fabricator hosting one of WAAPP’s Mango (Fruit) Dryer machine, NOBEX Tech Company Limited.

  • WAAPP support mission team visits FIIRO

    The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi has received the West Africa Agricultural Productivity (WAAPP) Supervision/Support Team who were on a working visit.

    The team was led by Dr. Sheu Salau who is the WAAPP Regional Task Team Leader from the World Bank. Also in the team were: Dr. Lucas Akapa, WAAPP Coordinator from CORAF/WECARD; Prof. Chi-kwendu Damain, National Coordinator, WAAPP – Nigeria and Dr. Kadir Osman Gyasi, the National Coordinator, WAAPP Ghana.

    Dr. Gloria N. Elemo, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) in her welcome address, alluded to the objective of WAAPP team’s visit, saying it was review the progress of implementation of WAAPP projects with the various collaborating organisations with WAAPP of which FIIRO is a major stakeholder.

    She also stressed that WAAPP-Nigeria has been a very strategic partner to FIIRO because of her mandate most especially in the R&D on food and agro-processing technologies which is in tandem with the objective of WAAPP while stating that no other institution in Nigeria can serve this purpose better than FIIRO. She also appreciated WAAPP for the approvals the institute got from the organisation to execute some  projects.

    These include training in high quality cassava flour, odourless fufu flour industrial starch, fruit juice, instant pounded yam flour, kunu production and preservation, fish smoking, tomato processing, and zobo production and preservation in the six geo-political zones.

    Mre Elemo thanked the team for their various comments and suggestions and promised that she would set up a committee to look at the various suggestions made by the team with a view to implementing them to enhance the performance of the institute to make it deliver effectively and efficiently on its mandate.

    Regional WAAPP Task Team Leader, World Bank, Dr. Sheu Salau, stressed that FIIRO is a very serious result-driven institution and alluded to the fact that WAAPP and FIIRO have a lot in common thereby assuring of the readiness of World Bank and WAAPP to collaborate with the  institute.

    He promised to link the institute with various other donor organisations that are relevant to efficient and effective delivery on its mandate.

    The team expressed satisfaction in the institute’s activities and leadership and concluded that the institute has all it takes to execute all the approved WAAPPP projects.