Gov AbdulRazaq Empowers Owode Oja with Industrial Garri Processing Machines

• Says govt committed to agric value chain

Kwara State Government on Wednesday handed different industrial cassava flour (Garri) processing machines to the people of Owode Oja in Asa Local Government to scale up their business, create jobs, improve livelihoods and encourage sustainable development. 

In August 2025, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq visited Owode Oja to inspect some road projects in Asa, during which he commended the women and asked for their other needs apart from the administration’s earlier interventions.

The machines included de watered cassava mash fryer; cassava mash sifter; and cassava grater with 1.5 tonnes capacity on a daily basis. 

While presenting the items to the community on behalf of the governor, the Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, called the governor a talk-and-do personality, a lover of the masses, and an advocate of self-reliance and economic prosperity. 

“We are here to deliver or fulfill a promise of His Excellency. On the 5th of August last year, the governor (as he did before) was in this community to inspect several road projects of the administration. When he came, he asked them what their other needs were and today without telling them he was coming, His Excellency sent us to deliver four different industrial machines which were purchased from the NCAM,” Ajakaye told reporters. 

“His Excellency deems it fit to support them to upscale what they do on an industrial level. There are different ways to look at it. The people of the community would benefit and women who are into garri making would also be able to upscale their production. 

“Another way to look at it is that the government has not imported these machines; the machines were procured from NCAM (National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation) which is a major national institution in Nigeria specializing in that. As the government has patronised them, it means they would also be encouraged to do a lot more.”

Ajakaye added that the people will be trained by experts on how to operate and maintain the machines for optimal production.

He also said that the 23km road project, which the administration is constructing under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), was to make it easy for farmers to transport their produce to the markets.

“The governor is not just empowering them, he has also constructed several roads. The road we passed to reach this place is 23 km under RAAMP. It is still ongoing. That is what he does, because he believes that whatever that is produced here, they should be able to have access to the market. Gestures like this are spread across the state, and you can see that the people are quite happy.”

Baale Owode Oja, Mallam Kuranga Yakub, Secretary of the Youth Wing of the community, Mustapha Kadir Olaitan, and Fauzat Abdulganiy, in their separate remarks, appreciated the governor for coming through for them.

They said the intervention will lessen the time they produce Gari, increase the volume of production, and boost their income.

“Our people, particularly women, used to travel to Lagos to work, but since the establishment of the factory they no longer go there. They stay at home and make their money through this Gari production. We are very thankful. May God bless the governor,” Yakub said.

“We are very happy and grateful, because we have never had this kind of opportunity in our lifetime. We thank God and our governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. This will help us in a greater way particularly in increasing the quantity and quality of the Gari that our people will be producing,” Kadir said.