The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has praised the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) for its development of various agricultural technologies, value addition and for boosting food security in Nigeria.
Ogugua Aworh, representing the TETFund Committee on Research and Development during a visit to FIIRO headquarters in Lagos, noted that the FIIRO had played a role in the country’s industrial development with regards to agricultural and food products.
Aworh asserted that to ensure their impacts are felt, institutions like the FIIRO should be furnished with all the resources necessary to research building the economy, thereby encouraging the agricultural industry and creating the right environment for products to be displayed, produced and transformed into commodities for community use.
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“They have developed very useful products, which, unfortunately, have not been adequately appreciated by the nation. FIIRO has developed products in all aspects of food that can address nutritional problems. In weaning foods for children, FIIRO was the first to develop Soy-Ogi, and big multinationals then took a cue from it,” Aworh said.
Agnes Asagbra, acting director-general of the FIIRO, explained that the institute focuses on the commercialization of new agricultural technologies that could help farmers, processors and industrialists.
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Asagbra shared that the institute carries out training across six geopolitical zones and emphasized the need for public-private partnerships to achieve better coverage. She also noted that food processing companies acquire the technologies produced by the FIIRO and in turn, replicate their efforts.
“From TETFUND, we have received some of the working documents which align with our industry. They have come to expose us to how to tap into getting TETFUND funds through collaboration with fellow research institutes and universities,” Asagbra added.
