JONATHAN COMMISSIONS TERAGRO PLANT IN MAKURDI

President Goodluck Jonathan last weekend commissioned the Teragro fruit juice factory at the Industrial Layout in Makurdi as part of activities marking his two-day working visit to Benue State.

The president stated that the commissioning of the Terago plant, a subsidiary of Transcorp was an opportunity for Nigeria to actualise its dream to process citrus to meet local consumption and export purposes.

He enjoined all the state governments to look at areas where they had comparative advantage and encourage private sector investment, maintaining that with such initiative, the country would be net exporter of non-oil exports.

He maintained that it was only through value addition to agriculture commodity that the country could actualise the transformation agenda and create employment for the teeming youths.

The president noted that Nigeria was an agrarian country blessed with weather and arable land, stressing that investment in the sector would help to move the country forward.

According to him, agriculture was the mainstay of the country in the 60s and that this present administration would stop at nothing to revamp the sector.

Jonathan therefore urged other state governments to emulate Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State by providing enabling environment that would attract investors.

In his remarks, Governor Suswam explained that the factory was built by the state government but did not have the ability to operate it, until Transcorp took it over and turned it around.