The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo conducts the Ground Breaking of Eastern Distilleries and Food Industries Limited’s new Non-Alcoholic Beverage Plant.

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN, on Thursday performed the ground breaking ceremony of Eastern Distilleries and Food Industries Limited’s non-alcoholic premium brands factory in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State. He was accompanied to the ground breaking event by His Excellency, Chief (Dr.) Willie Obiano, the Executive Governor of Anambra State and, Chief (Dr.) Chris Ngige, the Honorable Minister of Labour and Productivity.

The premium non-alcoholic beverage factory, which is located at Harbour Industrial Estate, Onitsha when completed, is capable of employing over 800 people and providing indirect employment to over 2500 others.

The Vice President, while laying the foundation stone of the facility, expressed happiness over the resilience and fortitude of Chief Chris Oranu Chidume, Managing Director of Eastern Distilleries and Food Industries Limited, even at the face of extreme difficulty and promised that the Federal Government would support entrepreneurs in the country like him, to sustain their businesses.

He described Eastern Distilleries and Food Industries Limited as a unique company that would become great in Nigeria and commended the management and staff of the company for steering the company successfully to its present state. The Vice President said he was in Onitsha on the instruction of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari and promised that the Federal Government would support entrepreneurs in Nigeria to continue to assist Government in creating employment for the people, especially the youths.

In his words, “I have seen the sheer enterprise that is going on in this place, the business acumen, the entrepreneurial skills and it has become very clear that this is truly the hot-bed of industrialization in Nigeria and I am very pleased to see all of these”. “I am here on behalf of Mr. President, to see for myself first hand, the types of industries that are going on locally and of course we have chosen to come here first, because this is one of the most active places in the country. “In whatever way we can assist, we will and we are already discussing with Governor Willie Obiano, who has laid out so many things he expects us to do and hopefully, we will be able to do them”. “You could also notice that I came along with the Minister of Labour and productivity, Chris Ngige, because job creation is so important to this administration.

“So, I am excited to be here, I have seen a lot and I will be reporting back to Mr. President and whatever we can do to support the Harbour Industrial Estate in Onitsha and other industrial estates in the country, we will do it”. Governor Willie Obiano, who was also visibly impressed with activities at the site and observed that the company would continue to grow to provide employment for the people of Anambra State. This was also echoed by the Honorable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief (Dr.) Chris Ngige.


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