The Director-General (D-G) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana’s foremost public scientific research institution, has successfully ended his tenure after a seven-year stint at the helm of the Institution. Prof. Victor Agyeman, before his appointment as the Director-General of CSIR in 2015, served as the Director of the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), one of the thirteen institutes under the CSIR, from 2007 to 2014.
As part of activities leading to an official handing over, the outgoing D-G paid a farewell visit to management and staff of the CSIR-Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI), the largest institute under the CSIR, on 18th February, 2022.
The Director of CSIR-CRI, Prof. Moses Mochiah, in his welcome speech congratulated Prof. Agyeman on a successful tenure and expressed his gratitude to him for trusting the resource base and organizational structure of the CSIR-CRI which saw the Institute host a number of key corporate CSIR programmes under his leadership. He was full of praise for the outgoing D-G for leading several sector Ministers as well as key personalities to not only visit the Institute but also help secure funding for its research activities.
In his valedictory address to staff of the CSIR-Crops Research Institute, Prof. Agyeman recounted the numerous achievements the CSIR has chalked under his tenure. These included improved compensations for staff, an amendment of the CSIR Act (that will eventually lead to the creation of two new CSIR research institutes), the adoption of a new CSIR strategic plan, as well as a substantial increase in the Council’s internally generated funds (IGF).
“My seven-year tenure also led to the development of a new scheme of service for the Council, a relatively high scientific publication rate, an increase in the number of staff promotions as well as the development of a new online promotion system, to mention but a few “, he stated.
Prof. Agyeman stated that a number of infrastructural and administrative challenges, he faced upon resumption of duty as D-G, had all been addressed, leading to an improvement in webometric ranking of the CSIR.
He however, indicated that the CSIR still faced a few challenges that the incoming Director-General would have to address. These included encroachment of CSIR lands, staff attrition as well as lack of funding for research. He was grateful to the Director and staff of the CSIR-CRI for their support during his tenure and wished the next Director-General well as he takes over from him.
Various staff associations within the CSIR-CRI, such the CRI-Research Staff Association (CRI-RSA), the Senior Staff Association (SSA), the local chapter of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the CRI Ladies’ Club delivered fraternal speeches to Prof. Agyeman and wish him well in the next phase of his life.
Brief bio of Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman
Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman is the Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), since January 2015. He is a Chief Research Scientist and also regarded as one of the leading authorities on Tropical Forest Ecology in Africa.
Prof. Agyeman holds a B.Sc (Hons) in Natural Resources Management in 1985 from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. Subsequently, he undertook his M.Phil research work at KNUST under a ‘Sigma (ø)’ Research Grant for Young Scientists’. In 1990, he did his Ph.D at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.
He continued pursuing higher education by obtaining LLB (Law degree) from KNUST, and a Qualifying Certificate/Barrister-at-Law (QC/BL) from the Ghana School of Law in 2012.
In 1985, Prof. Agyeman joined CSIR’s Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG), and in 1990 he was promoted to Senior Research Scientist at the Institute.
He was appointed the Head of the Natural Forest Management Division (NFMD) in 1996. Between 2000 and 2001, Prof. Agyeman served as Management Consultant on a World Bank supported sector wide Natural Resources Management Programme (NRMP), which was executed by the then Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines (MLFM). Upon his return to CSIR-FORIG in January 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Principal Research Scientist (PRS).
In 2007, he was appointed the Director of CSIR-FORIG. Having relevant qualification and expertise, Prof. Agyeman has also rendered his services as a Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
