By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Olam Nigeria Limited has announced plans to build a USD100 million ultra-modern soya beans crushing and processing plant in Nasarawa State.
Olam’s Vice President, Corporate and Government Relations, Ade Adefeko, disclosed this during an official visit to Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, at the Government House, Lafia.
The proposed new plant is coming few months after the leading agro-allied company established a multi-million dollars rice production plant in Rukubi, Doma local gvernment area of the state.
Mr. Adefeko requested the Nasarawa government to provide Olam with about 200 hectares of land where the planned ultra-modern soya beans crushing and processing plant will be sited.
He explained that Olams has already established state-of-the-art poultry and fish feed plants in Ilorin, Kwara State, and in Kaduna, Kaduna State.
Giving details on the proposed project, he said the company’s local sourcing of raw materials such as soya beans and corn for its animal feed operations, has positively impacted the lives of more than 300,000 small holder farmers in the country.
Adefeko explained that Olam will implement backward integration by establishing a soya beans crushing and processing plant with an initial capacity of about 50, 000 metric tonnes, which will be scaled up over a period of three years to 300,000 metric tonnes.
”The purpose mainly is to establish an ultra-modern soya beans crushing and processing plant with a production capacity for 750 tonnes per day in phase one and upscaled again over a period of three years,” he said.
Adefeko also hinted on the plans by his company to upscale the soya beans plant to process other agricultural commodities such as groundnuts in the future, thus making Nasarawa State a bastion of employment prospects.
“It’s important to understand that Nasarawa State is the gateway to the North West, North East and North Central, that is why we are giving Nasarawa State the first option,” he said.
Nasarawa State governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, described the proposal from Olam Nigeria Limited, as the greatest birthday gift he will receive.
Sule said, “I told you that we will shift everything that we are doing today in order to receive you because we want the USD100 million to come to Nasarawa State,” he stated.
The governor immediately constituted a team comprising of the State’s Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Hon. Mohammed Tanimu Sarki, Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Nuhu Ibrahim Oshafu, MD/CEO of Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency (NASIDA) and Special Adviser on Political Matters, Hon. Mohammed Dikko, to liaise with representatives of Olam, with a view to finding suitable location for the proposed plant.