Makurdi, Benue State — Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has inspected ongoing construction at the Food Basket Brewery in Akile, along the Makurdi–Gboko Road, reaffirming his administration’s drive to make the state an industrial hub.
Alia toured major sections of the plant on Friday alongside the Commissioner for Trade, Industry and Investment, Alumo Orpin, the Group Managing Director of Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), Dr. Raymond Asemakaha, and senior management staff. They were conducted round by the brewery’s Chief Operating Officer, Emmanuel Adoje.
During the visit, Asemakaha introduced the governor to Chinese expatriates handling the installation of EBI production machines, critical components of the brewery. He raised concerns about the shortage of local technical skills, revealing that one expatriate had earned $250 per day for 92 days, excluding feeding and accommodation — a cost he described as unsustainable.
In response, Alia directed BIPC to immediately select 12 Benue youths from the state’s geopolitical zones for a six-week advanced training programme in China on the operation and maintenance of the brewery’s machinery. The trainees will be sent in four batches, a move he said would help “domesticate technical capacity” and reduce long-term reliance on foreign contractors.
The Food Basket Brewery is one of the flagship projects of the Alia administration, implemented through BIPC as part of a broader industrialisation agenda. The plant is designed to produce around 10,000 crates of beer daily, targeting an estimated ₦1 billion monthly beer market in Benue and expected to create at least 400 direct jobs in its first two phases and over 1,000 indirect jobs along the value chain.
Addressing cheering residents who lined the roadside, Alia urged communities to see the brewery as a “collective asset” and protect it from vandalism. He described the project—alongside ongoing roads, underpasses and other infrastructure—as “a tip of the iceberg,” promising a “full wave of industrial transformation” by 2027.
The governor also seized the moment to encourage citizens to participate in the ongoing voter registration exercise so they can have a say in future elections.
BIPC restated that the Food Basket Brewery is central to its strategy to revive Benue’s economy through agro-industrial investments, including sister projects like Benval Juice and Benfruits, which together could employ over 1,500 youths directly and thousands more indirectly.
