FG okay Union Dicon's takeover of Kogi SCPZ

The Alape Staple Crops Processing Zone (SCPZ) in Kogi State, which suffered setback last January due to a sudden pull out by an agro-allied American Company,Cargill, has now received a new lease of life as an indigenous company is set to take over in the next couple of weeks.

This was disclosed weekend by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, in Abuja when he received the management team of the new company, DICON SALT.

The SCPZ idea focuses on attracting private sector agribusinesses to set up processing plants in zones of high food production, to process commodities into food products.

The government was expected to put in place appropriate fiscal, investment and infrastructure policies for Staple Crops Processing Zones.

Audu Ogbeh said the idea was a great innovation of the last administration, “and, like we have said, we are not going to engage in policy somersault. So, we are carrying on with the great idea and we are adding even greater ideas.

“We are carrying on as we now produce what we call the green alternative. And that is the summary of our new policies. The alternative being agriculture. Oil and gas and all those other rather unstable sources of income

The minister said when in January, that Cargill decided they were pulling out, some kind of uncertainty filled the air, but they decided that they were going to find new company to manage the project.

“ Now, DICON SALT has come in to replace Cargill. They have the capacity, both financial and managerial, to do it. And we are very excited to see that they are here.

“They have given us a target of two years to put their project in place. Activities will begin now. It's time to plant more cassava. Some 10,000 farmers in Kogi State and neighbouring states will need to get quite active. All of these will bring the desired growth which we've been waiting for. And this is the kind of thing we have been talking about: all-inclusive growth, democracy in capitalism.

Not just one person - the industrialist who is making money, the peasant farmer, the tipper driver, the harvester, the security guard, the sweeper, the factory worker. Every person enjoys it when a scheme works out like this.”

Ogbeh said they are looking forward to harvesting the cassava leaves for feeding cattle and goats. “Even the peels of the cassava, that chain is so fruitful. It is like an irrigation canal. It wets all the land as it moves water from one spot to the other. The benefits are simply impossible to calculate while sitting in one spot. And that is what we are excited about.”

Speaking during the visit, Chuka Mordi, co-MD/CEOs of Union Dicon Salt PC, disclosed that the firm that is looking forward to taking over Kogi SCPZ project.

According to Mordi, "we are fully indigenous. It is a remarkable opportunity to develop the agribusiness space in Nigeria from a fully indigenous perspective.

"The Union Dicon is listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, so it is a wholly Nigerian company. That is very important for the things we want to achieve in Nigeria for Nigerians. There are manifold benefits.

“We import almost 300,000 metric tons of starch every year. So that is a significant amount of foreign exchange we are saving. In terms of industry capacity, in terms of employment, economic growth, the multiplier effects this is going to have on the Nigerian economy is very significant."

Bekuochi Nwawudu Nwawudu added, co-MD/CEOs of Union Dicon Salt, said "that we have a minister that can see continuity and something as a priority. The key now is that we need to ensure local content. Even in that value chain, we are not extracting enough value. But extracting value is what the project will enable us to do. "

He said the reason for the meeting was to accelerate progress on the Kogi State project in the next

few months as what is material for them is moving very quickly to site.