The don made the appeal during the 6th Inaugural Lecture at Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State, Nigeria, titled: "Vegetable Oil: A Veritable Industrial Raw Material."
In his lecture delivered on Wednesday, 28th May 2025, the esteemed professor lamented Nigeria's stagnation in vegetable oil production, despite possessing an impressive 70% of arable land conducive to such cultivation. He further emphasized that Nigeria's palm oil seedlings and flora are regarded as among the richest in the African continent.
Folarin expressed his grave concern over the fact that Malaysia, which sourced palm oil seedlings from Nigeria in the 1960s, has ascended to become the world's second-largest producer of palm oil, amassing millions of dollars from exports, while Nigeria regrettably lags behind and continues to import vegetable oil in the 21st century.
"The Nigerian government and its citizens must engage in profound reflection. We ought to return to the days when agriculture was esteemed as a source of pride, yielding significant economic impact and serving as a vital foundation for regional and national food security."
"Oil palm offers considerable advantages over other oil crops due to its competitive pricing, enhanced efficiency, and high productivity. Oil palms exhibit resilience, thriving where other plants falter and still yielding commercially viable outputs. They necessitate minimal fertilizer, pesticides, and energy, rendering them a more environmentally sustainable option. Furthermore, as perennial plants, oil palms provide the added benefit of reliability, producing year-round," the scholar elaborated.
With over twenty-five years of dedicated research in vegetable oil both in Nigeria and abroad, he asserted that vegetable oils are an essential renewable resource, possessing both nutritional and industrial significance. These oils are derived from a diverse array of oil-bearing seeds, fruits, nuts, and grains, including oil/palm kernel seeds, soybeans, cotton seeds, groundnuts, sesame seeds, and melon seeds, among others.
The industrial chemist further elucidated that there has been a renewed interest in substituting petroleum feedstock with seed oils in numerous industrial applications, driven by the depletion of petroleum resources, the non-renewable nature of these materials, and growing environmental concerns.
He affirmed that vegetable oils are now in high demand and widely utilized as foundational materials in the chemical industry, owing to their low toxicity, affordability, ready availability, biodegradability, and performance characteristics. They have found extensive applications in food production, as well as in the manufacture of paints, inks, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, lubricating oils, leather dressings, furniture polish, insecticides, nitroglycerin, and chemical intermediates such as metal carboxylates and alkyd resins.
The scholar therefore urged governments at all levels in the nation to mechanize and invest significantly in vegetable oil production as a catalyst for economic advancement and a durable solution to the rampant unemployment crisis plaguing Nigeria, often referred to as the giant of Africa.
In his remarks, he advised the Ondo State Government on the imperative to revitalize and heavily invest in palm oil production by resurrecting its dormant Okitipupa Oil Mills and encouraging the youth in the state to engage in palm oil production through the provision of financial assistance and logistical support.
In conclusion, he called upon the government to assemble teams of scientists from pertinent fields, entrusting them with the critical task of meticulously documenting non-conventional oilseed plants, granting Nigerian farmers access to financing, novel technologies, and empowering smallholder farmers with capital to augment their production capacity for both local consumption and foreign exchange. He also advocated for the strengthening of research-extension linkage systems to ensure effective delivery of innovations to farmers and their commercialization for the benefit of other end-users.
In his remarks, the OAUSTECH Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, congratulated the lecturer on the success of his inaugural lecture.
Prof. Ologunorisa underscored the necessity for Nigeria to advance as a nation, emphasizing that governments at all levels must actively collaborate with universities to leverage the outcomes of their research for the enhancement of the economy and the welfare of its citizens.
The event was well attended by academics and dignitaries from various walks of life.