CAPACITY BUILDING: Aregbesola Seeks Support For Farmers, As Osun Signs MoU With International Brewery

Government of the State of Osun and International Brewery Plc, Ilesa, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Governor Rauf Aregbesola calling on the management of the company to consider backward integration to it’s production of beverages and drinks.
Aregbesola, who gave the advice at the Governor’s Exco Chamber in Osogbo on Wednesday, said backward integration would assist farmers grow raw materials for the company.
The governor also urged the brewery to help in the area of capacity building for the state manpower.
Aregbesola disclosed that 10 years before his assumption of office as governor he and his team conducted a study to know the critical needs of the people of the state, saying poverty, hunger and unemployment were top on the list.
He said, “So during our campaign, we promised to work on their needs which we had already known through the survey. Since we came into power, we have been waging a war to banish poverty, hunger, unemployment. That is why education is among our cardinal programmes so as to get our people educated and informed.
“We realize that no society can help itself without education. And as well some of our programmes promote healthy living so that we can raise the level of our productivity.”
The governor promised to support the company because of the multiplier effect of its operation on the economy of the state.
He said: “We are looking at economic activity that has potential to galvanize the economy of the state. And before we sought for mandate, we did a thorough study of the state environment and came out with Six Integral Action Plan as the major objective of our administration. Thus, waging war on poverty, banishment of hunger and unemployment, among others. Beyond these three monsters, we make commitment to functional education and promotion of healthy living while a critical factor in modern life is guarantee of peace and security.”
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, explained that the essence of signing the MoU was to industrialize the state.
He said that rather than going around the globe looking for investors, the Aregbesola administration had commissioned the Growth Investment and Development Limited to look internally for industrial captains to assist the state.
Bolorunduro disclosed that it was the company that identified five investment models that snowballed into the MoU.
He assured that the state government would assist the company to acquire land, take care of resettlement cost, title and other encumbrances.
He also said that if the company increases production, employment would rise to over 15,000 people, saying that the immediate plan of the company was to increase production from 1 million hectolitres to 3 million hectolitres.
He said the state government was assisting the company so that it would not be lured away by neighbouring states.
The Chief Operating Officer of IBL Plc, Mr. Carlos Gomez, disclosed that the company’s presence in Osun State meant that it has some social responsibility to the people.
Also, the company chairman, Otunba Michael Daramola, disclosed that the brewery’s expansion would run for about four years, but lamented that loan interest rate was killing.
WORLDSTAGE