The wife of Kebbi State Governor, Dr. Mrs. Zainab Bagudu, has commended West African Cotton Company Limited (WACOT) for its contributions to the development of agriculture and establish of rice mill in the state.
She made the commendation when she paid a courtesy visit to ultra-modern WACOT Rice Factory commissioned by the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo in Argungu, Kebbi State ,ßrecently.
During the visit, she flagged off a new CSR initiative by WACOT Limited tagged “Pick a Bag” which was instituted with the intention of providing clothing for the underprivileged in their communities of operation.
For this, she presented bags of clothes donated by staff of WACOT to underprivileged from Argungu Local Government. In order to encourage the women’s self-help groups in Argungu, cash prizes and certificates were presented to the top three groups by the wives of the Governors of Kebbi, Kwara and Zamfara states respectively.
While conducting the wife of the Governor and her delegation round the ultra-modern high-capacity rice processing mill, the General Manager Corporate Affairs of TGI Group, the parent company of WACOT Rice Limited, Mr. Sadiq Kassim, disclosed that the factory is the first phase of WACOT’s rice milling plan, which targets an increase in capacity to 500,000 metric tons in the next few years.
According to him, the 120,000 metric tonnes Rice Mill has a capital investment of over N10 billion and is capable of processing over 120,000 metric tonnes of paddy per annum, creating over 3,500 employments.
He further disclosed that the presence of the factory has empowered a lot of farmers, saying “we do not farm rice, but we work with the farmers from seed to harvest to ensure high quality paddy, which we then buy off them. We purchase paddy from up to 50,000 farmers here in Kebbi State”.
Also speaking at the event, Nollywood Actress, Toyin Abraham expressed happiness over the developmental stride of the Kebbi State government and WACOT limited in establishing a factory of such magnitude in the state and called on the management of the company to also explore the other geopolitical zones of the country.
She added: “I heard of the rice mill but was seeing it for the first time and that she is proud to be a Nigerian, while hopeful that with such development by WACOT Limited, unemployment will soon become a thing of the past in Nigeria.”
Also, Saratu Dipapu, a popular Kannywood actress at the occasion said she was excited to be at the WACOT Rice factory. She added that, since the establishment of the factory in Argungu, the community and the state at large has witnessed lots of developments, both human and capital.