WACOT Rice Limited, a subsidiary of TGI Group, based in Argungu, Kebbi State, has said that it will create 60,000 jobs across Nigeria and West Africa through its partnership with the USAID on the rice outgrower expansion project. The Deputy Chief of Party for USAID’s West Africa Trade and Investment Hub (WATIH) project, Mr. Karl LittleJohn stated this during the co-investment partnership launch with USAID in Argungu.
He said the jobs created would be available across Nigeria and West Africa. “We want to show that we can create jobs. And we want to also increase trade investment with our partners across West African countries”.
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On his part, Chairman of WACOT Rice Limited, Farouk Gumel, said that over 2,000 jobs have been created by the company due to the USAID partnership.
He said that the expansion of the company has given opportunities for more farmers to cultivate more land for rice production.
“When the company was established in 2017, we hardly sold our product for the first three months because customers were demanding for foreign rice but today, we steadily sell Nigerian rice and people continue to ask for it. Many people have shown interest in becoming our agents and marketers,” Gumel said.
Earlier, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Bert Leonard, said that the US government’s partnership with WACOT was to sustain food security and creation of more jobs in Nigeria.
Leonard said that more than $8m (about N3.1bn) would be injected into the economy through the partnership.
Also, Kebbi State Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, said the presence of WACOT Rice in the state has positively impacted its economy, adding that the development attracted the USAID investment.
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