The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) in partnership with Alstein, a research and development platform for industrial solutions, brought researchers and industrialists together during a seminar to deliberate on ‘Utilization of indigenous industrial enzymes in Nigeria.’
Dr Agnes Yemisi Asagbra, the acting Director-General of FIIRO at the seminar disclosed that the meeting was organized to establish the collaborative effort with the industries to bridge the gap in enzyme cost, and reduce importation by commercializing the local technology developed for industrial enzymes in FIIRO, among others.
The Enzyme Technology division of the FIIRO involves research and development into local productions and utilization of industrial enzymes from agro-industrial waste for use by Nigeria Industries. FIIRO was recently made an Enzyme Research Centre in Nigeria by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
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Enzymes are the biological substances or biological macromolecules that are produced by a living organism, which act as catalysts to bring about a specific biochemical reaction. They are used in industrial products, including foods and beverages.
In his remark, the Country Representative of Alstein, Adeoluwa Adediran stated that without research, there cannot be innovations and one of the major problems in Nigeria had been infrastructure and duplication of equipment.
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He added that what they are doing now is gathering a list of all equipment available in both private and public institutions and then put them together for easy booking and usage by researchers.
Head of Department (HOD) Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Dr Ogunrinola Olabisi, representing the Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof. Ibiyemi Ibilola, said the university has a lot of publications on enzyme that can be used to reduce foreign exchange.
