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Imo State government yesterday said that it has commenced discussion with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a loan of N52 billion to be channelled into Adapalm plantation. The General Manager of Adapalm, Goddy Esomobodo, disclosed this to newsmen in Owerri, adding that the loan would be used among other things to replace the mills with mordern machines in order to increase the capacity of the oil production, improve the infrastructure as well as expansion to other zones of the state. When asked if Adapalm had started selling its palm oil, he said that, while the production of palm oil was still ongoing, there was an embargo on the selling of the oil for now by the government, adding that there was a plan to start exporting the product in large quantities.
According to Esomobodo, “the two most important steps to make this place survive is the mill and the plantation. Plantation gives you the raw material and the mill handles the raw material to the end product and gives you the money.
“Today we are doing 40 tons and with the avalaibilty of fruits, we now know we can achieve a milestone in oil production. But, unfortunately, this is what we call the lean period in oil palm production. The period of surplus is gone. What we are doing now is to use the little fruits that are available to us to keep the mill working. Unfortunately, we have not started selling oil. Governor Hope Uzodinma said we should not sell the oil may be we may use it to attract foreign investors who will take our oil to abroad.”
He was worried that due to neglect of the Adapalm plantation by past administrations, many things were destroyed in the headquarters of the management. “Everything there is gone, GM, administrative office is gone, account auditors’ office is gone, the police post gone, workshop gone, residential quarters for top management staff gone, electricity regulation, water gone.”
