February 2, 2018

Prof.(Mrs) Gloria Elemo is the current Director General/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s  foremost research institute, The Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO). She assumed office as the seventh Chief Executive of FIIRO and the very first female Director General/CEO.

Born in Lagos in 1957, Prof. Gloria Elemo is a distinguished scientist, academician, researcher, administrator and economist. Her academic pursuits began in 1963 at St Matthias Catholic School in Lagos. By 1973, she had her WASC/GCE certificate from Mary wood Grammar School. Between 1963 and 1965, the then young Gloria had her Higher School Certificate at the Methodist Girls High School. With the conclusion of the higher school certificate, the coast was clear for her tertiary education pursuit and this she started at the University of Benin as an undergraduate of Biochemistry. By 1979, Prof Elemo bagged her first degree with a second class upper division. Two years after, (1981) she graduated as an M.Sc holder in Human Nutrition at Nigeria’s premier University, the University of Ibadan. Still longing for more academic laurels, she applied for her doctorate programme and in a record time of three years she bagged her Ph.D in Human Nutrition, with a bias in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Ibadan. Prof (Mrs) Gloria N. Elemo was  appointed a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry by Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria.

Prof. Gloria Elemo’s career dates back to 1979 when she functioned as a Clinical Biochemist at the Bauchi State Hospital where she had her NYSC. Between 1982 and 1984, she was a graduate assistance at the Department of Human Nutrition at the University of Ibadan. Her romance with the academic world continued when she was employed into the services of the Lagos State University (Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences) as Lecturer II. By 1987, Prof. Elemo had risen to become a Lecturer 1 and later the Head of Department. By 1991, she became a senior lecturer at the same University.

In 1993, Prof Elemo moved further in her career when she was employed as the Assistant Chief Scientific officer at the Raw Material Research and Development Council in Abuja. While at RMRDC, Prof. Elemo rose through the ranks to become a Deputy Director. Areas where she functioned as a Deputy Director include her roles as the Head of the Pilot Plant Projects Division, head of the Investment Promotion Division, head of the Research Evaluation and Monitoring Division, the Beverages Materials Division and the Plastic Rubber and foam Division. All these leadership positions were held between 1995 and 2007.

In 2007, Prof (Mrs) Gloria Elemo’s consistent display of competence and professionalism in her over twenty seven years of postdoctoral working experience, could not be ignored, hence her appointment as the Director, Food  and Analytical Services Department of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, an organization that serves as the flagship of Research and Development in NigeriaIt was this position she occupied until her appointment as the Director General and Chief Executive in May 2011.

She is a member of various professional bodies within and outside of Nigeria:

  • The Nutrition Society of Nigeria
  • Nigeria Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • The New York Academy of Science
  • Fellow, Nigeria Institute of Food Science and Technology
  • British Nutrition Society
  • Third World Academy for Women in Science
  • Fellow, Institute of Chartered Chemist of Nigeria
  • African Society of Toxicology Sciences
  • American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Nigeria Society of Experimental Biologists

Prior to her appointment, Prof Gloria Elemo attended many Executive Management courses within and outside Nigeria. She is endowed with special skills and competence in research and development, project management, teaching and a host of other worthwhile endeavours in the science industry.

With over seventy (70) local and international publications and one hundred and fifteen (115) conference and seminar papers, Prof. Elemo has over the years displayed considerable contribution to R&D in the areas of Human Nutrition, Food Processing, Food Product Development and Food Value Evaluation. She is an apostle of the commercialization of the various research findings in Nigeria. She has worked in the development of products like the: Development and production of packaged fish feeds; Feeds for growing grass cutter and snail using indigenous crops; Formulation and development of nutrient rich food beverage for people living with HIV/AIDS; development and production of high nutrients density drinks and biscuits for school age children; Production and packaging of traditional dishes.

FIIRO’s helmsman has also functioned in various capacities in many steering committees within and outside Nigeria. Some of them are the Presidential Committee on the Exportation of Cassava; Coordinator for the task force on Cassava R&D in Nigeria for the ministry of Science and Technology; Presidential committee on inventions and innovations at the Ministry of Science and Technology. She is currently a Board member of Africa Rice in Cote d’voire and a host of others.

She is happily married to Professor Babajide Elemo of Igbara Oke in Ondo state and they are blessed with four children, three daughters and a son.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROF. GLORIA N. ELEMO LIST OF PUBLICATIONS