GOV. TAMBUWAL VISITS ERISCO FOODS, GIVES KUDOS & EXTENDS INVITATION
His Excellency Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State paid an official visit to Erisco Foods factory in Lagos on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 to see for himself the good works of the company and to invite the CEO of the organization to replicate in Sokoto State what he has put in place in Lagos. The Governor who visited with an entourage of top Government officials from Sokoto State, praised the effort of Erisco Foods Limited in providing jobs for over 1500 Nigerians so far, improving the economic wellbeing of many families as well as producing very qualitative products in Nigeria.
The Governor’s entourage consisted of the Special adviser to the Governor on Media and Public Affairs Mallam Imam Imam, the honourable commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Mallam Aminu Bello, Project Manager special irrigation project, Sokoto Rima Basin Development Authority, Mohammed Lawal Moidoki, the honourable commissioner of Agriculture, Alhaji Umaru N. Tambuwal, Chairman House Committee on Commerce and Industry, Sokoto State House of Assembly, Hon Taminu Dangaladima Kysdawa and the Chairman House Committee on Agric, Sokoto State House of Assembly, Hon Dayyabu Atamu Kalmalo.
President and CEO of Erisco Foods Limited, Chief Eric Umeofia, led the Governor and his entourage through a facility tour round the factory where they were shown different sections. Some of the products manufactured in the company include Ric Giko and Nagiko Tomato pastes, Sachets of Garri mixed with sugar and milk, coffee mix, milk power, seasoning cubes among many others. Erisco Foods factory capacity is currently over 240,000 metric tonnes and is expected to reach 450,000 by February, 2016.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal, while going down memory lane, said “We the people of Sokoto State are very proud of our relationship with the President/ CEO of Erisco Foods Limited who way back in 1980s started his business career in Sokoto. I met Chief Eric Umeofia on an Ethiopian Airline flight about three years ago when I was the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives and we had a brief discussion on the Tomato Paste business.“
He said their mission at the factory was to appreciate him, see for themselves what he is doing and to further re-establish that relationship .The governor commended Chief Eric Umeofia for his efforts and prayed that God almighty will continue to strengthen him. He said, “I have come to visit this factory to extend an invitation to him to come to Sokoto State and see how he can possibly replicate what he has done here in Lagos.”
Governor Aminu Tambuwal also extended similar invitation to other business men especially indigenous entrepreneurs to key into core areas of investment in which the state has competitive advantage. Such areas, he said, include Agro Allied (Tomato, ginger, rice, onions, wheat, millet, guinea corn, carrots, vegetables, Life stock), Phosphate, Tantalite, Cement, Gold etc.. He said his administration is willing to give all necessary incentives such as land, certificate of occupancy, tax holidays and all the necessary required incentives to manufacturers who are willingly to establish their presence in Sokoto State.
“We can mobilize some of our local manufactures to join hands with the investors and organize them in such a way that it will be easy for them to operate in the Sokoto State. Our administration also intends to develop a very good business frame work that will promote, protect and sustain such businesses by way of legislation or by way of policy.”
When asked what his administration intends to do about problems such as epileptic power supply and lack of storage facilities which has a major effect on indigenous manufacturers, the governor said, “when I came in, we sent a legislation to the State House of Assembly for the establishment of a commodity and marketing board. The sole objective of that is to mobilize the populace and give them the guarantee that whatever you produce, there is going to be some one that will watch over your interest and that is the commodity and marketing board that will interface between the farmers and the off takers. We are very conscious of the fact that we need to establish storage facilities and we are talking to the Federal Government to take over the Silos. We as a government believe in a complete and comprehensive value chain and we cannot be achieved without all of this being in place. We are very aware of that and we are rising up to that responsibility. “
“On electricity, the immediate past administration has been working on IPP (Independent Power Project) that is expected to generate about 38 megawatts. It is 90-95% nearing completion. After the completion of that project, our intention is to invite the investors and see the possibility of coming up with an industrial park where by we can deploy the power that will be generated from the Independent Power Generation of Sokoto State. It is solely government owned so the Sokoto State Government can subsidize it and partner with the investors on how best to come up with a frame work that will make it easy for them to generate power in the State. Of course we have a lot of Sun is Sokoto State and we have the wind too. So we are talking to various investors who are coming in from different parts of the world to invest in Wind Energy, Solar Energy and so forth.
In terms of Security for investors, the Governor affirmed that Sokoto State is the Home of Peace in the whole federation and that the Government is doing everything humanly possible to sustain the peace in Sokoto State so that investors can be assured of maximum protection.
The Governor also advised Nigerians who do not patronize made in Nigeria goods to begin to look inwards:“As we are all aware, our economy is really facing serious challenges and one of the best ways we can encourage our investors, particular indigenous entrepreneurs is to patronize their products. So we shall inculcate the spirit of patronizing our locally made goods in Sokoto State as a matter of deliberate policy” he said.
Chief Eric Umeofia, thanked the governor for leaving his tight schedule in Sokoto and for deeming it necessary to pay his organization a visit in line with seeking the wellbeing of his people. He commended the governor for his interest in indigenous manufacturers and promised to reciprocate by investing massively in Sokoto State. According to him, starting his business career in Sokoto State contributed to his success story as he learnt from the people of Sokoto not to be greedy and to always be content. Hence he is willingly to pay back to Sokoto state all what he has learnt from the State. He promised to replicate the business in Sokoto State in double folds as compared to what is in Lagos State.
“We will mobilize all our partners to begin to work towards making our plan for Sokoto a reality. We are going to invest over 250 million dollars in Sokoto very soon,” he said.
Chief Umeofia urged other governors to follow the footsteps of Sokoto State Governor in ensuring that indigenous manufacturers are giving maximum support and to encourage the people of their states to patronize Made-in-Nigeria goods in order to enhance a better economy for Nigeria.
Chief Eric Umeofia said the Erisco Foods brands are excellent and the company is making sure that they don’t deviate from good quality. He stressed the need to encourage indigenous manufacturers in Nigeria as this will lead to creation of more jobs which will in turn eliminate unemployment, terrorism and militancy. According to him, it is easier and faster to make money through the importation of low quality goods from outside the country but his organization chose not to be involved in such activities because they are determined to grow the Nigerian Economy and provide healthy food products for Nigerians.
By Janice Johnson
