… as firm promises community shared prosperity
By Isaac Aimurie and Henry Oqua
Leaders of Evboesi Community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State have expressed confidence in the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration to transform their community into an industrial hub following the delivery of a transformer and employment of their youths by Saro Oil Palm Limited to kick-start pre-planting activities on the 10,000 hectare plantation.
The Ohenosa of Evboesi, Chief Billy Akongie, said this on Thursday in the community while receiving representatives of the Edo State Government and Saro Oil Palm Limited during a facility tour of the farm.
According to Chief Akongie, “Obaseki is our son, we are pleased with what Saro is doing in Evboesi because we had had situations in the past where previous governments brought investors and the investors did not deliver the projects.
He added: “They will go and buy project vehicles and brand them and after a while the contractors will disappear, and that will be the end of the project. But with Obaseki as governor, the story is different. He promised he would develop Orhionmwon local government area when he was campaigning for re-election and he brought Saro to partner with us on this project.
“We are pleasantly surprised at what Saro is doing in Evboesi, our youths have been gainfully employed in their farm and we are very happy about the 500 KVA transformer Saro Oil Palm gave to us.
“They have delivered all the things we requested from them and Saro and our people are partners on this project that will cater for our children and grandchildren. With this project Obaseki’s name will never be forgotten by our people.”
Other community leaders expressed their delight at the employment and other economic opportunities being created by Saro Oil Palm Ltd in the local economy.
Mr. Friday Egbon, a driver that conveys workers to and from the farm, said: “The best thing this farm has done for us is that it has put an end to kidnapping in this area. This forest used to be a hideout for kidnappers. Now that it has been taken over by Saro Oil Palm Ltd, all the kidnappers have left the forest and we feel very safe now.”
He also said that with the activities on the farm, the transport business has been good for him.
Speaking at the farm, the Managing Director of Saro Oil Palm Limited, Dr. Tunde Faturonti, explained that the company is setting up a 30-hectare nursery.
“Our plan is to plant 400,000 thousand this year. The plan is that, when you have the pre-germinated nuts, we plant it and nurse it for three months. So, when it’s three months, we will now transfer to the nursery in a bigger bag. This thing needs a lot of water. We do watering in the evening and early in the morning,” Faturonti added.
Commenting on job creation for youths in the community, he said: “In our company, we get young bright graduates. They are trained under a manager; and we expect that if he or she is bright enough, in the next five to six years, he should become a manager in our company. Naturally, we just advertise. We also work through EdoJobs.
“We have been paying salaries like twice a month now and my wage bill in the last two months is N1.6 million. Currently we have not less than 50 people currently working here now and we didn’t bring anybody from outside.
“What we have done is that we have people that know the job on ground; and I am somebody that believes in training, so that people can develop capacity. For our first planting we got people that have done it over and over again, and we got our people to be around them to also learn. Some of them will tell you that they are now experts at nursery preparation.”
Mr. Churchill Oboh, who is the Team Lead of the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP), said he was overwhelmed by the progress Saro has recorded and called on leaders in other communities to urgently key into the industrialization drive of the state government so as not to be left behind.
“When we started our engagements with communities to cooperate with the investors, some community leaders refused to cooperate with the investors. But Evboesi is a success story because the leaders saw well ahead of time that Governor Obaseki means well for Edo people. I urge such leaders to cooperate with the government and investors to transform all the communities in the State.”
