- Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will pay
an official visit to Edo state on Tuesday,
August 29 - Osinbajo will inaugurate a 60,000
metric tonnes-capacity fertilizer plant
in Auchi - The Edo state-owned fertilizer plant
was rehabilitated to boost farming
nationwide All is set for Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo’s visit to Edo on Tuesday to
inaugurate a 60,000 metric tonnes-capacity
fertilizer plant in Auchi, the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports. Alhaji Sadiq Kassim, spokesman of Wacot,
the company managing the plant, told NAN
on Monday in Auchi that the plant would
create about 500 direct jobs for people in the
area. He said that the Edo state-owned fertilizer
plant was rehabilitated by Wacot under the
presidential fertilizer initiative to boost
farming nationwide. “The plant will provide immediate 500
direct jobs to indigenes of Edo State as soon
as the Vice President commissions it
tomorrow. “We are managing the plant under a long
term lease with Edo government,” he said. Kassim did not disclose the company’s
financial involvement. “All I can say is that we plan extension of
the project in few years to scale up the
capacity and turnout which will be in billions
of naira,” he said. He commended the people of the community
whom he described as “very homely and
accommodating` “Our relationship with the host community
is absolutely fantastic. We have made
extensive contact with the people who are
grassroots farmers; they are homely and
very accommodating towards us,” he said. NAN reports that Gov. Godwin Obaseki had,
during a visit to the site of the plant in
January, expressed optimism that the plant
would become functional this year. The Edo Fertilizer Company, Auchi, had
remained dormant since it was
commissioned during Lucky Igbinedion
administration on March 22, 2003. had reported that Dr Junaid Mohammed said Professor Yemi Osinbajo did not perform up to expectation as acting
president while also insisting that the north has been marginalised. In an interview with Vanguard, the second
republic lawmaker said Osinbajo was
probably under the influence of cabal who
were trying to direct his affairs.