Benue okays $250m food city, targets 15,000 jobs

From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi

Benue State Government has approved a $250 million National Food City Complex expected to create more than 15,000 jobs and integrate about 40,000 farmers into a large-scale agricultural production and processing network.

The N378 billion agro-industrial project, to be implemented under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with REXZONDENEH Group Limited (RGL), will cover 30,000 hectares across three local government areas, including Otukpo and Ado.

The State Executive Council approved the project as part of efforts to move Benue beyond primary agricultural production into large-scale processing, value addition and export.

Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chief Solomon Iorpev, who disclosed the decision after the council meeting, said the investment would strengthen the state’s agriculture and industrialisation drive while contributing to national food security.

Executive Secretary of the Benue Investment Promotion Agency (BIPA), Dr JohnPaul Kpenkaan, said the project would establish an agro-industrial park where agricultural commodities would be processed into finished products for domestic consumption and export.

According to him, more than 15,000 direct and value-chain jobs are expected to be created, while about 40,000 farmers would be mobilised to supply rice, cassava, maize and other commodities, including raw materials for livestock feed.

“The 30,000-hectare project covers three local government areas of Otukpo, Ado and another. For now, implementation is beginning primarily in Otukpo, where the first 12,000 hectares will be developed,” he said.

Kpenkaan disclosed that the project would operate under a 25-year concession arrangement, with the state government retaining a 10 per cent equity stake.

At the expiration of the concession, he said, ownership would revert fully to the state.

“This becomes the first significant public-private partnership project in the 50-year history of the state to move from a Memorandum of Understanding into an executable agreement,” Kpenkaan said.

He attributed the breakthrough to Governor Hyacinth Alia’s efforts to improve the ease of doing business and create an enabling environment for private investment.

Kpenkaan said the initiative formed part of the Federal Government’s national food security programme and had been approved for implementation in six pilot states, with Benue the first to approve implementation.

He said Alia had directed the investors to come to the state on Friday for the formal signing of the agreement.