The policemen were said to have taken over the premises to stop the ongoing protest by the workers against the controversial doctorate of the acting Director-General of FIIRO, Chima Igwe.

“Everybody is afraid as I speak with you. They are everywhere, heavily armed,” a source said on the telephone.

FIIRO workers have been protesting for two weeks the refusal of the Ministry of Science and Technology to suspend Igwe for not presenting a certificate for a PhD he claimed he completed 18 years ago.

They accused the minister, Ogbonnaya Onu, of double standards and supporting the 57-year-old.

Igwe is under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.

Officials of the Universite d’Abomey-Calavi, Benin Republic, where Igwe claimed to have bagged the doctorate, had, however, told Newsmen that he started the programme but did not complete it.