Guinness Nigeria Plc has boosted production in Nigeria with the commissioning of a £12 million spirits production line in its Benin plant.
The spirits production line will make Guinness the first and the only truly Total Beverage Alcohol (TBA) Company in Nigeria.
The spirit line was commissioned by the Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, in company of his deputy, Phillip Shaibu, Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, and the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Taiwo Akerele.
In his welcome address, Babatunde Savage, chairman, Board of Directors, Guinness Nigeria Plc, said with the commissioning of the spirits line in Nigeria the company would now be able to produce previously imported spirits locally.
Savage said it would also enable the establishment offer a wider variety of products to its customers at a more affordable price.
He also disclosed that the company had over the years impacted over 1.5million people in Nigeria through the provision of potable water to 25 communities in 14 states of the federation.
He said it was part of the investment of the organization in corporate social responsibility to its host communities and Nigeria in general.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, Guinness Nigeria is interested in more than running a profitable business, we are also enriching our communities with investments in the areas of provision of water, health facilities and education scholarships to mention a few. As an example, in the water sector to date we have impacted over 1.5million people in Nigeria through the provision of potable water to 25 communities in 14 States across Nigeria”, he said.
Savage who lamented hard economic environment in which they operated however called on the state government to provide an enabling environment for them to grow their business noting that would increase the number of people to be gainfully employ directly and indirectly and create shared prosperity for all stakeholders – shareholders, employees, communities and the government.
He also called for a close collaboration with the new government to develop the business to more internationally standards.
In his remarks, President, Diageo Africa, John O’Keeffe noted that commissioning of the line has further strengthened its commitment to locally source for raw materials for the production.
According to him, the use of local raw materials such as sorghum and maize has been part of our business for a number of decades and our commitment to local sourcing is further strengthened by the commissioning of this plant that will produce preciously imported spirits, using locally supplied raw materials.
“As part of our broader local raw materials (LRM) sourcing, we are looking to increase our locally sourced production inputs to 70% in the coming years and this fits in nicely with the Diageo ambition to get LRM sourcing across the continent to 80% by 2020 and I believe we are on track to achieve this”, he added.
In his speech Edo state Governor, Godwin Obaseki of Edo commended Guinness Nigeria for the inauguration of the new production line and it’s social responsibility to the host community.
“We see this project as an opportunity in this recession for us to partner with the company in our quest to create 200,000 jobs. In our effort to grow agribusiness line, we will make land available to Guinness and other company to grow investment in the state”, he stated.
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