Amidst economic challenges in Nigeria, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has urgently called upon President Bola Tinubu to intervene in resuscitating the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO). Emphasizing the need for maximum productivity, it also advocates for the return of the Director-General’s office of the Institute back to Lagos from Abuja.
Established as a key and foremost research institution in Nigeria in 1953, FIIRO is charged with propelling industrialization by leveraging indigenous resources from the country’s 774 local government areas to boost the nation’s economy and upgrade home-grown production techniques to modern ones.
In a letter to President Tinubu, signed by HEDA’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, the civil society group highlights FIIRO’s historical achievements from its Lagos headquarters in Oshodi. However, under the recent leadership, the institute has faltered, with infrastructure decay and minimal output.
The letter reads in part, “Since the appointment of the current Director-General of FIIRO, Dr. Jummal A. Tutuwa, and the Board, the institute seems to have forgotten its mandate and productivity. The environment of the institute in Lagos appears like an old dumping ground without any meaningful activities to justify decades of investment in the institute.
Suraju further noted that the incompetency can be attributed to the fact that the Director-General’s domiciliation in Abuja and lack of deserving interest in the management and operation of the institute. This has resulted in the decay of infrastructure and zero output from the institute in the last years.
However, HEDA called on the President to give necessary directives to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji to resuscitate the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), to ensure its maximum output and productivity.
“This should include relocation of the Director-General and other important department from Abuja back to Lagos to save cost and increase efficiency, and investigation into the reason for the current redundant state of the institute.
HEDA urged the immediate intervention of President Tinubu, noting that the country is currently experiencing a high inflation rate due to over-reliance on foreign exchange and depleting foreign reserves, and this is the best time for Nigeria’s economic development needs FIIRO to work optimally.
The civil group expressed optimism in its request to President Tinubu, adding that it looks forward to the resuscitation of FIIRO and more importantly, Nigeria taking its rightful place of self-sufficiency and non-reliance on other nations in research and industrialization.