The management and staff of the Forestry Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-FORIG), have organised a send-off ceremony for its immediate past director, Prof. Daniel Aniagyei Ofori, after 33 years of an illustrious career with the institute. The ceremony, which coincided with his 60th birthday, was to appreciate his dedicated service and immense contributions to the progress of the Institute over the years. After joining the Institute in 1991 as a Research Assistant Officer, Prof. Ofori rose through the ranks to become its Director in 2015, providing an outstanding leadership until his retirement. During his stint with CSIR-FORIG, he acquired his master's and PhD degrees, authored 183 publications and was conferred a full professor in 2017. Having spent virtually his entire career with CSIR-FORIG, the management recognised the need to put together a befitting send-off ceremony as he exited an institution he served with passion and commitment. Staff of the Instit ute, friends, former directors, and other well-wishers who were in attendance presented various packages to the outgoing Director. Some of them took turns to extol his qualities as a scientist and their working relationships with him and wished him well for the next chapter of his life. Prof. Ofori acknowledged that the CSIR-FORIG had been a good place of work for him, having built his capacity as a young scientist to become a professor. 'It has been a wonderful experience, both technically and socially. Managerial skills, self-confidence, purposefulness, knowledge, practical skills and sense of direction among other virtues would not have been attained without CSIR,' he noted. He said he saw the position as Director a call to duty and urged the staff not to bury their talents but make optimum use of them to project the image of CSIR-FORIG and corporate CSIR. 'Let us use our knowledge and skills to turn the fortunes of the Institute into reality and also cultivate the ability to decrease the gap between vision and action,' Prof. Ofori advised. He recounted several successes achieved during his tenure as the Director with the tacit support of the staff and other stakeholders and thanked them for their respective roles in the journey. Source: Ghana News Agency