Bennett Oghifo
The vision of Nigeria becoming a major foods processing hub in Africa has received a boost with the preparation of the site to begin the construction of a huge agro-products processing complex, known as Tingo Foods Processing Facility in Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State.
The factories, administrative building, powerhouse, roads and landscaping will be ready in 24 months, so says the Chief Executive Officer of the construction company, Standites Nig. Ltd., Mr. Tunji Rhema Moyero, while conducting stakeholders on a tour of the facility recently.
The stakeholders included a Director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Bassey Unaowo; the CEO, Tingo Foods Plc, Neha Singh; and Secretary, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Dr. Yinusa Halidu, among other distinguished personalities.
They rose from a courtesy visit to the Obi of Onicha-Ugbo, Agbogidi Chukwumalieze at his Palace, which is less than 10 minutes drive to the Tingo Foods Processing Facility that is off the Asaba-Benin City expressway.
The facility is planned on 40 hectares of prime land and, according to the displayed designs, there will be an administrative block, and several factories, such as Tea and Coffee plant; Cereal plant; Rice Mill factory, complete with silos; Vegetable Oil and Margarine factory; Noodles and Spaghetti factory; Cashew processing factory; Chocolate and Biscuit factory, as well as the Beer and Water processing factory.
There will be warehouses for agricultural produce, among others.
The facility’s Clinic, Canteen and the proposed guest house for visitors are laid out behind the administrative block, which has a large parking space for staff, while the parking space for visitors is outside the premises.
The truck parking lot, power station and waste management unit are at the rear of the facility. There will be well-laid roads and drainages which will be lined with greens.
The facility will be powered with energy from three sources; public mains, solar and generators.
The facility is being built in two phases which are next to each other. The land size of the first phase is 18.9 hectares and the second is planned for 22.1 hectares. The total is 40 hectares.
According to the contractor, work on the project would go full blast non-stop, explaining that they just moved to site after the groundbreaking was done in February this year because of a communal dispute over land ownership, but that all that had been resolved, thanks to the Obi, the elders and other stakeholders.
He said there are 104 workers on site, and that construction of structures in the facility would go on simultaneously to ensure they are completed in 24 months.
The Secretary, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Dr. Yinusa Halidu lauded the project, stating that the association would be a major beneficiary. “We’re a farmers organisation, representing hundreds of thousands of farmers, commodity associations and cooperative societies in Nigeria. This is a processing zone and we will encourage all our farmers to aggregate their produce and presently AFAN’s relationship with Tingo has gone very far to the extent that Tingo has started funding our production lines. We will bring whatever we produce that they need to this facility instead of exporting them. They will be processed here instead of being processed abroad and sent back to the country.”
The President of Tingo Foods and Tingo Mobile, Chris Cleverly said, “seeing this today has been a real pleasure. These ideas come from God, from somewhere, but the thing is if you see them to reality, you see dreams coming out, giving real work to real people,” stating that hundreds of people will be working at the food processing facility and be able to live off it, in addition to millions of farmers whose produce would be processed there.
Cleverly said he is “super proud” of the whole idea, stating that it is what Tingo is all about, adding with the project, “Nigeria can feed itself, Nigeria can feed Africa and Africa can feed the world.”
Director Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Bassey Unaowo, who represented the Permanent Secretary, stated that the federal government through the ministry was prepared to work with the development partners like the African Development Bank (AfDB) to provide infrastructure like roads, electricity and security so that production would go on smoothly.
He said after that, products from the factory would go out to all parts of the country, and suggested that the company sets up a one-stop shop of all the regulatory agencies on their premises to ensure quality control.
He called on other investors to come into the agro industry, stating that it is the future.
