The Kogi State Government today commissioned a newly built N4 billion rice mill factory with the capacity to produce 50 tonnes of rice per day.
Commissioning the project in the state, the Governor Yahaya Bello said it will employ no less than five thousand youths with the attendant evonomies of scale.
The factory is located, at Omi Dam in Ejiba, Yagba West LGA of Kogi.
”In 2016, we visited this particular Dam and I promised to establish rice mill here, and today we have this factory 100 per cent established by Kogi State Government, which had been neglected by all the past PDP administration.
”We approach the Federal Government through the Minister for Water Resources to allow us to use this Dam for the benefit of our people.
”Today, we are here to inspect a brown new rice factory that is second to none as far as northern Nigeria is concern,” he said
He noted that the factory has the capacity to produce over 1000 bags of 50 kg of high-quality rice every day, and could employ over 5000 people as direct jobs, and more of indirect employments.
He added that over N300 million would be injected into the economy of Kogi State every month through the factory while generating additional over N120 million revenue to the state IGR monthly.
”The rice mill will also be producing fish and poultry meals because we are presently having over 500 fish ponds in this Omi Dam.
”We have the capacity to produce cassava and all agro-allied products in this particular location,”.
According to him, the capacity of the is plant is 500 kWh and the rice milling plant capacity at every processing line (shift) is 200kwh.
”Kogi State is situated in the centre of Nigeria, where people traveling to north, south, east and west must pass through Kogi, which means we are saddled with lots of responsibilities.
”All that is required now is that the FG through CBN to come to our aid because we have the capacity to expand this factory in multiple folds.
”Through this factory, We are going to pull many of our people out of abject poverty,” Bello restated.
The governor assured that the rice factory and all other projects in the state would be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari before the November 16 governorship election.
The governor further said that his administration’s effort had made insecurity to be reduced to the barest minimum in Kogi State.
