By Dipo Olowookere
The fertilizer blending plant located in Auchi area of Etsako West Local Government of Edo State will commence commercial fertilizer production from June 20, 2017, the General Manager of the technical company managing the fertilizer plant, Mr Ayodele Ejaoye, has assured the state Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki.
Mr Ejaoye gave this assurance to Mr Obaseki on Thursday when the Governor paid a visit to the plant. The facility has the capacity to produce about 7-ton of fertiliser per hour.
During the visit, the Governor inspected facilities and work progress at the plant and after his mission, he expressed satisfaction with the level of work, pointing out that “there has been a significant change in the condition of the plant from what it was months ago when I first visited.”
The Governor attributed the progress made so far to the ability of the state government to get technical partners under the Federal Government fertilizer programme to start work at the plant.
According to Mr Obaseki, these partners have made investment to revamp the plant. “The equipment has been tested and manufacturers were brought to fix the faulty parts,” he said.
The Governor noted that the partners “are also constructing a new line to meet up with the specification of the federal government fertilizer programme.”
“To ensure proper take-off of the facility, security has been beefed-up in the location and office complexes have been fixed,” he said further.
“In addition, plans are in the works for Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to draw a dedicated 33KVA line to the plant,” he revealed.
Mr Obaseki remarked that, “A standby 500KVA generating set has been refurbished and more plans are being made with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to increase power supply to the blending plant and other mining facilities in the locality.”
The Governor disclosed further that, “Mr Ayodele Ejaoye, the General Manager of the technical company managing the fertilizer plant, has assured me that the plant would start commercial fertilizer production from June 20 this year and that it has a 7-ton/hour capacity.
“When it becomes fully operational, the plant is expected to provide about 120 direct and indirect jobs.”
