The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved the appointment of Dr Adamu Tutuwa as the substantive Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Lagos.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Mrs Monilola Udoh, on Friday in Lagos.
The statement said that Tutuwa was the Director of the Biotechnology Centre of the National Biotechnology Development Agency in Jalingo, Taraba, until her new appointment.
It added that Tutuwa’s vast experience in science research and development would come in handy as a veritable tool to give FIIRO a further push into the commonwealth of renowned scientific, technology and research nations.
“With her core competence in biotechnology and her affiliation to scientific donor agencies, hopes are high that her new constituency will benefit therein,” it said.
The statement stated that Tutuwa’s appointment takes effect from May 10, 2022, with a five-year non-renewable tenure.
The PUNCH has been following events at FIIRO since 2019 when Chima Igwe, against the advice of the Governing Board, was made the acting DG by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, despite the controversies around his PhD.
Following an Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission report which indicted Igwe that he never had the doctorate in 2001, he was demoted to the position he held 18 years earlier.
Igwe, who was the institute’s acting Director-General, was demoted to the position of Chief Research Officer for making false claims to a doctorate from a Benin university.
He is being tried at an Ikeja High Court by the ICPC over the matter following orders from the Presidency.
That decision by the former governing board of the institute started a war between Onu and the then board Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Gwarzo.
Onu later wrote to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), demanding that Igwe be confirmed DG of the institute, a request that was rejected after investigations by the Head of Service.
The President, in a memo in September 2021, signed by Ibrahim Adamu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Administration and Operations), directed the minister to allow the board to function freely.
Buhari also asked the ICPC to prosecute Igwe for giving false information to his employers.
He asked the board to commence the process of appointing a substantive DG.
The board was in the process of appointing a substantive DG when the minister October 2021 dissolved the board and appointed his friends and loyalists.
