By PROVIDENCE OBUH

Findings from Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) show that Nigeria’s investment in Research and Development (R&D) accounts for 0.01 percent of global expenditure.

The Director General, FIIRO, Ms Gloria Elemo, stated this while presenting a paper titled: “Investment in Research and Development: A panacea for Sustainable Job Creation in Nigeria.”

She stated that Nigeria ranked 94 out of 134 nations in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) in 2010 without a university ranked in the world’s top 500.

Elemo pointed out that there are huge opportunities and possibilities for wealth and sustainable job creation if the government at the local, state and federal level continues to partner with the private sector in the uptake and commercialization of most of its R&D results.

She said: “In FIIRO for example, we have developed more than 250 technologies from locally available raw materials and 50 of these have been scaled  up to pilot plant production and packaged ready for commercialization.

“The federal government has a huge role to play by enacting policies and legislations that will encourage production of consumer goods from indigenous raw materials. The support given to the partial substitution of wheat flour with cassava flour in bread and confectioneries will for instance revolutionalise the entire cassava value chain,” she said.

Additionally, she said that the 10 percent cassava flour inclusion policy, if passed into law has the potential of generating more than three million jobs down the line across the entire value chain. “I believe it is a policy that should be given a serious and speedy consideration by the national assembly.

“Nigeria has aspirations to be one of the top 20 world economies by 2020 creating two key issues – a need for massive investment in science, technology and innovation over the next decade and strategic opportunities for researchers in R&D and new product development. FIIRO is poised to play a major role in achieving the year 2020 projection,” she said.