FIIRO, BoI stress agriculture’s role in Nigeria’s industrial growth
The Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) and Bank of Industry (BoI) have highlighted the importance of agriculture in realising the nation’s industrial aspirations, with the abundance of agricultural resources in the country.
Gloria Elemo, director general and chief executive officer, FIIRO, during a courtesy visit of the managing director of BOI to the Institute, stressed the vital role of FIIRO in attaining the objectives of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIPR), saying ‘’the plan identifies industry groups where the country has comparative advantages, one of which is the agro-allied, agro processing and minerals where the Institute is relevant.
“FIIRO is very strong in food and agro-allied processing. We have made outstanding contribution to industrial development in the country. We have done research on raw materials used virtually in all sectors. You cannot industrialise without science and technology and research development.”
Also speaking, Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director and chief executive officer, BoI, said: “Agric processing sector is one of the key sectors where Nigerians has competitive advantage. We need to move from import substitution industrialisation to agro-based industrialisation. For us in BoI, this is an area of high priority.”
The contribution of manufacturing in the country to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is very low at 6.8 percent, he said, adding that “We need to find home-grown solutions to our industrial aspirations. Nigeria is blessed because in every state we have agricultural products that can be focused on.”
Key strategic initiative that we have is the linkage between centres of innovation and industry because we have to be forward-thinking to make progress and the way to make progress is to come up with creative solutions to accelerate our growth, said Olaoluwa.
“We are fully in alignment in terms of helping to industrialise and create jobs. It is one way we can make the GDP felt by Nigerians, and industrialisation based on agric products is very important,” he said.
Noting that BoI is the leading development finance institution in the country set up to help finance the process of industrialisation of the country, he said the bank will continue to finance the process of industrialising the country to create more jobs for Nigerians.
Another area of collaboration is promoting the technology developed by FIIRO, making it available to people and supporting the process of fabricating equipment, he said, adding that “We are focused on how to create an ecosystem that will function towards industrialising the country; we are not just giving loans.”
Stressing the need for FIIRO and BoI to reinforce their strategic partnership, Elemo said: “Industrialisation is very key to the economic development of any country. We need to consolidate the relationship now and move faster. It is time to build on our competitive advantage and turn our quantity advantage to productive advantage. I hope that with this courtesy visit we would be able to strike a harmonious chord that will help to achieve the objectives of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan.
Established in 1956, FIIRO was charged with characterising local raw materials for use in industry and to source and modify when necessary the required technology to local conditions.
FEMI ASU