Workmen offloading some equipment worth N400 Million for the resuscitation of Ire Burnt Brick Industry in Ire Ekiti on Thursday.
Industrial activities would commence next month at Ire Burnt Brick Factory as Ekiti State Government on Thursday took delivery of equipment worth N400 million meant for the resuscitation of the factory.
Taking delivery of the equipment at Ire Ekiti, the State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Otunba Reim Bodunrin, said the state government in partnership with Oodua Investment Group decided to revive the moribund factory so that it could generate income for the government and Oodua Investment group as well as employment for the teeming unemployed population.
The Commissioner added that the delivery of the equipment is a step towards restoring life to the factory even as the factory will begin a test-run operation in October 21 while full operation will commence in November this year.
Bodunrin who hinted that the factory, on completion, would employ no fewer than 300 indigenous workers assured that the state will not have problems marketing the products which vary from clay roof tiles and burnt bricks among others as the products are being produced only in two States.
While restating the commitment of the State Government to giving adequate patronage to the factory, he added that the since the state is blessed with kaolin clay and other types of clay materials used for the production, there is no fear of sustainability of production when it commences full operation in November.
The Commissioner said that the Belgian company, CERATEC which is handling the resuscitation of the factory would still run it pending when the employed staff of the Ire burnt brick Industry would be sent abroad for training on production and maintenance of the factory.
Also speaking, the representative of Oodua group on the board of Ire Industry, Mr. Biodun Adedeji said the equipment which is meant to give life to the factory are ordered from different parts of Europe;added that expatriates who would fix the machines will arrive Ekiti State very soon even as Governor Fayemi has given a marching order that the factory get back to life by October.
It would be recalled that the factory became moribund in 1998 but the Fayemi-led administration expressed its displeasure at the long years of the factory’s unproductive state and decided to revive it.
Last modified: September 7, 2012