.From Attah Ede Makurdi

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Benue Investment and Property Company limited (BIPC), Dr Raymond Asemakaha, on Tuesday, revealed that beer distributors in Benue State generates between N850 to N870 million monthly from sale of beers to alcoholic consumers in the State.

He stated that it was realised that the people selling these beers were taken the money made from the sales out of Benue State, adding that the State government has concluded arrangement to embark on production of beer in order to retain the money in the State. Dr. Asemakaha who disclosed this to newsmen shortly after inspection tour of the brewery site , water and bakery factories located at KM16 Akile Gboko road and George Akume road in Makurdi respectively, said the beer’s name will be unveiled during its launch in December 2024..According to him, the need to set up new beer factor after the one established by past government went into moribund, was as a result of research carried out by BIPC which indicated that a huge amount of money leaves the state every month on beer consumption.”Asemakaha said the company was out to give Benue and Nigerians a high-premium quality beer made in the state using local raw materials. We will not go into competition with any brewery company therefore, would do everything for the people to enjoy a beer with a difference.“Basically, when we came on board, we understand that the rate of alcohol consumption in the state is between N850 to N870 million per month. We understand that the people that are selling these beers have taken this money out of Benue State.“So, we discovered and said no, all what we need to do is to float a new company that we can be able to observe and retain the cash flow within the system. That is why we are embarking on beer production.“This N850 to N870 million is a monthly sale of beers in the state, and within the month of December, they have made one billion naira in sales. So, one of the things we are doing is to help retain the cash flow within the system.”The expected production capacity is 180,000 bottles per day, because the fermentation period is 15 days. We will crash the price of beer in the state, but we are not going to compete with them (other breweries). We want to retain the cash within us. It is our own thing. So, the people here, our brothers and sisters, should be able to key in and take our products,” he said.”The brewery project would cost between ₦700 and ₦800 million and we will raise it through capital funding from Benue sons and daughters. The raw materials will also be source locally and we will commence full production by the first week of December.“What we want to do is that this season, we want to give people seedlings so that we can go back to production and take those products from them to plant and harvest,” Dr. ADr. Asemakaha explained the it would cost his company about N800million to set up the brewery saying the 23 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of the state would be encouraged to own 23 percent of the shares while Benue indigenes would be advised to acquire shares in the factory “because we want our people to own the business.””We will raise capital out there and do this job so that you can have a share, I can also have a share and other people too so that we can control the business. We have 23 LGAs in the state and each one of them will take one percent share and the remaining ones will be giving to individual Benue citizens to subscribe”, Dr. Asemakaha stated On the water factory and bakery, the Managing Director said the two companies which were sited within the same premises at Tse Ayu, Along George Akume Way would cost the sum of N220m to complete assuring that they would be completed and commissioned on May 27, 2024.On his part, the Departmental Head, Business Development and Strategy, BIPC, Mrs. Theresa Abeda said the company was breaking new grounds in investments given the wealth of experience and business know-how of the man at the helm of affairs who had been doing much to transform the company.The Department Head, Real Estate and Infrastructure, Jerry Iorsun, on his part, assured that all projects being embarked upon by the company were of the best quality and in line with the acceptable construction standard