Residents of Afam Uku community in Oyigbo local government area of Rivers State are in a joyous mode as Rivers State Governor , Nyesom Wike on Thursday commissioned the 45000 per day metric ton of Cassava processing plant.
The cassava processing plant is located in the Afam Uku community. The community is also playing host to the multi- billion Afam power station.
Some of the residents who spoke with our reporter said that the cassava processing plant will create employment among the youths and hundreds of residents of the community.
A resident of Afam , Okere Chima said with the new cassava processing plant located in the community many of the youths of the area will have jobs to do.
“I am very happy that the project that started several years ago has been completed. We are very grateful to the Governor of Rivers State for considering our community for the location of such multi-million-naira gigantic project. The cassava plant will create jobs for our youths and take many of them out of the streets. It is a privilege to have such project here and we sincerely thank the Governor for what he has done,” he said.
Another resident , Onyiyechi Markson said that the cassava processing plant will create a good market for farmers in Oyigbo local government area and the entire state. The farmers will now have a place to sell their farm produce. The plant is strategically located in an agriarian communities so it’s very easy for many of men and women who are farmers to harvest and sell their produce to the company,” he said.
Another resident who simply gave his name as Ikechi , said, “now that the plant is here many of our youths will have a job to do. There will be so many job opportunities the plant will offer the people of the area and that is the reason why you see every resident of the community in a joyous mood. We are grateful to his Excellency for considering the community for such a wonderful project,” he said.
Governor Nyesom Wike had earlier said before the Thursday Commissioning of the plant that the company when fully operational would employ 4,500 persons and also boost agriculture in the state.
He stated that the government has 70 per cent equity share in the project, which is in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company(SPDC) of Nigeria.
“We are quite happy that this project which was initiated by the previous administration in 2012 and abandoned has come to the stage of completion.
“When we came on board and saw the usefulness of this project to our economy, we did not hesitate to release funds to complete it.
“As you can see this project which is about 90 percent complete would have been commissioned this month if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has negatively impacted global economy.
“Let me commend the management of this plant for fast-tracking the completion and the novel initiative that will use mobile machines to collect cassava from the farmers at their various clusters.
