A 150,000 litres daily capacity ethanol distilling plant would soon be
established in Ipao-Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area of the state.
This was disclosed at a review meeting between the management team of
Nosak Group, Lagos led by the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Thomas
Oloriegbe and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development team,
led by the Commissioner, Hon. Folorunso Olabode in Ado Ekiti.
Mr Oloriegbe said the plant would require about 400,000 metrics tons
of cassava daily for maximum production, which he said would be a huge
investment that would benefit the rural dwellers with great economic
transformation for the people within and around the host community.
The leader of the visiting team who described his organization as a
business entity that has diversified its investment into various
economic sector, said the company has the largest ethanol plant in the
sub-Sahara Africa, with the establishment of a 500,000 metric tons
capacity plant in Lagos.
The Chief Operating Officer said that the group is also involved in
oil and gas, cassava and oil palm production across several states in
Nigeria, with an assurance that the survey team of the organization
would arrive the state to mapping out the land allocated to it in
conjunction with the office of the state Surveyor General.
He said that Nosak would need 18,000 acres of land for the take-off of
the investment, pointing out that the already allocated 10,000
hectares of land is grossly inadequate to feed the proposed plant.
Mr Oloriegbe called on the state to help mobilize youth to participate
in cassava cultivation while security of the state should be
strengthened for the protection of lives of the people and their
investment.
In his response, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural
Development, Hon Folorunso Olabode appreciated the leadership of Nosak
Group for considering Ekiti state for the huge investment at a time
the governor was working round the clock to move the state from civil
service and agrarian economy to private-driven industrial economy.
Mr Olabode emphasized that the governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi had a pact
with Ekiti people to make Agriculture a means of sustainable economic
reformation, adding that the state is anxious to see the organization
moving into action that would add values to the available lands in
Ekiti state.
The Commissioner said that the present government was investing
massively in infrastructures, including rural roads of about 1,000 km
across the state for ease of transportation of people and farm produce
to where they are needed.
He described the coming of Nosak to Ekiti as timely as government was
favourably disposed to giving lands to investors, while more virgin
lands are being cleared for agricultural purposes in Ekiti state, with
an emphasis that the area allocated to the group had been set aside as
Agricultural Processing Zone (APZ).
Hon Olabode said that the state was in collaboration with the African
Development Bank (AfDB) to make funds available for the
infrastructural development of the area.
He assured the group of effective and efficient security network for
their lives and investments while charging them to collaborate with
the host communities for maximum security.
The Commissioner stressed that cassava cultivation strived in Ekiti
state as the second most cultivated crops to cocoa farming, with an
assurance that the plant would have more than enough cassava to feed
it when it is fully operational.
He thanked the President of the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association
(NCGA), Pastor Segun Adewumi for facilitating the location of the
ethanol plant in Ekiti as part of its 5-star cassava production
programmes.
While welcoming the Nosak Group, the President of NCGA, Pastor Segun
Adewumi said that he influenced the siting of the plant in Ekiti state
as part of his association’s 5-star cassava production programmes,
adding that the plant would be strategically located to be fed by 5
states to ensure uninterrupted ethanol productions.
He appealed to the leadership of the group for early commencement of
the project, with an assurance that the over 10,000 cassava growers in
the state would meet the cassava demands of the organization.
Pastor Adewumi also appealed to Nosak Group to invest in oil palm
plantation and training of oil palm farmers for optimal production of
palm produce as parts of its diversification agenda in Ekiti state.
The team had earlier visited the Ipao-Ekiti axis for verification and
confirmation of the available lands set aside for the investor.