Benue State Governor, Hyacinth has tagged his fourth year in office as the “year of commissioning projects, saying that very soon projects executed by his administration will be lined up for inauguration.
Governor Alia who stated this while inspecting work on the newly constructed state-owned juice and concentrate factories in Makurdi, the State capital expressed hope that President Bola Tinubu will graciously come to commission some of the projects.
Industrialising Benue State has been the cardinal objective of the Hyacinth Alia-led administration.
Of particular concern is the constant post-harvest losses, a challenge that has long plagued fruit farmers across the state.
At the Bensono Concentrate Plant and the Benva Juice Factory, in Makurdi, the capital, Governor Alia is quite satisfied that this objective is coming to fruition as facilities are all in place for their official commissioning.
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Group Managing Director, GMD of the Benue State Investment and Property Company, BIPC, Raymond Asemakaha, said the choice of agro-processing factories was deliberate to establish and create value from Benue State’s abundant agricultural produce, particularly oranges, mangoes, and tomatoes.
Governor Alia then proceeded to the Motorcycle Assembly Plant where 525 motorcycles have been assembled so far with partnership arrangement between the Benue State Government and a Chinese firm.
A total of N165 billion is the amount spent by Nigeria on the importation of fruit juice concentrates annually according to the Raw Materials Research and Development Council. This much, the BIPC GMD frowned at insisting there is no reason to continue importing what we can produce locally.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
