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The glory of FIIRO is fading, minister warns

The minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Olorunimbe Adeleke Mamora has tasked workers of Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) to double their efforts in order to ensure the agency survives future challenges.

Mamora who gave this charge at his madden visit to FIIRO in Lagos recently observed that the reputation of the institute appears to have nosedived, saying that the ‘glory’ of the institute is fading.

“FIIRO should not live on the past glory and neither allows it to fade as it seems the glory of the institute is fading. This demands collective effort of all staff to arrest the situation and move forward the glory of the institute.

“Everyone is needed to achieve this. The very day I was announced minister of science, technology and innovation, I started receiving calls all over concerning FIIRO. This is why I decided to visit the institute first among the parastatals in the ministry since my appointment.

“We must learn to do things differently to move forward and not rely on our previous statistics and achievements. I am here to appeal to you all to turn a new leaf and show determination to make the difference and leave a legacy at FIIRO and the country at large”, Mamora stressed.

In her welcome address earlier, the Director General of FIIRO, Dr. Jummai Adamu Tutuwa, informed the minister that as one of the oldest research institution in the country, has contributed immensely in churning out of research and development (R&D) products for the use as well as the growth and development of the country targeted for the use of the citizens.

FIIRO, she stated has majority of the R&D products patented and ready for commercialization expressing optimism that once the requisite support is received, all the products would be pushed to the markets.

“Honourable Minister sir, it may interest you to note that despite the fact that FIIRO was established a long time ago, the various laboratories utilized for the production of the various R&D are in a deplorable state of disrepair owing to inadequate funding, poor maintenance which leads to low morale on the part of the staff, particularly the researchers who had one way or the other used part of their wages for the conduct of R&D in the Agency”, Tutuwa dislosed.

According to her, FIIRO is poised to showcase the necessary innovation for the good of the nation, as such as addressing the low value and perception of research. She identified problems facing FIIRO to include,  research teams working in silos, slowness of research and development , inadequate budgetary allocation, and non collaboration or pairing with other researchers.

She also stated that the lingering industrial unrest in all the research institutes across the country including FIIRO is a setback for R&D and appealed to the minister to assist in bringing the strike action to an end so that all the researchers can go back to their laboratories and do what they know how best to do.

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