Abia State government says it has taken steps to revive the moribund Golden Guinea Breweries Limited, Umuahia, the foremost brewing firm in the South-East and South-South zones of Nigeria.

Governor Theodore Orji in his New Year State Broadcast says rehabilitation work on the facility is almost ready and would soon commence production.

According to him, I shall commission it before leaving office as another parting gift from me, which will also create employment.

Recall that the Abia State government set up a committee to revive the abandoned Golden Guinea Breweries, when it discovered that the company, which was earlier said to have been sold to a private company, was not actually sold to anybody.

The committee was set up to find a lasting solution to the problems of the company established by the administration of Michael Okpara, premier of the defunct Eastern Region in 1960.

The brewery, which was then the toast in the beer industry in the country, offered thousands of employment to the indigenous people of Abia State in particular and Nigerians in general, until it was abandoned by previous governments.

The governor had promised to revive the brewery during his first term in office as one of the avenues to provide jobs, but the promise was not fulfilled because, according to him, government was not told the truth about the actual problems of the company.

‘’What happened was that when the company had financial problem, it was bailed out by the people now occupying the place, because the management of the brewery was unable to re-repay the loan, warranting the new management to take over the place, although they could not move the company forward,” he said.

GODFREY OFURUM