By Emmanuel Elebeke

THE Federal Government has said the recent award of International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO, certification to the Federal Institute for Industrial Research, Oshodi, will make Nigeria self-reliant in raw   material processing and globally competitive.

Onu

The minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who spoke in response to the award said the administration is confident that very soon Nigerians will begin to see the positive effects of this ISO certification in research and innovation, job creation, and export of goods and services.

According to him, attaining the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certification by FIIRO, is an important feat needed for Nigeria to stop over dependence on foreign laboratories and finished goods, making FIIRO become first agency under the ministry to be so certified as a research institute.

The certification enables FIIRO to analyse food and non-food products and certify them suitable for export. With the certification, any of such products certified by FIIRO will no longer acquire any other analysis outside the country.

According to the minister, “by the certification, any research conducted in FIIRO labs can be easily published in international journals and will assist our export market with the potential to create more jobs, additional wealth and fight and defeat extreme poverty.