Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo on Wednesday said the state’s Palm Oil Producing Industry, ADAPALM, could employ about 35,000 people if fully revived.
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The governor said this while on inspection visit to the palm oil industry to have on-the-spot assessment of the state of affairs in the industry.
He said the industry, if revived, would help the state government in facilitating industrial growth, harmony, expansion and increased productivity.
Uzodinma said he was happy that production had resumed once again at ADAPALM and that 120 tonnes of Grade A palm oil was being produced daily.
He said that placing ADAPALM in its rightful place would boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the state.
He said that the company was a value chain that could produce not only palm oil, but also other oil-related products like margarine, sheer butter and palm kennel oil, among others.
The governor said: “We are committed to bringing ADAPALM back to stream. It’s one of our greatest hopes of surviving the post COVID-19 era.
“The economy is almost becoming epileptic. We have to look inward to see how best we can restructure our economy, boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and then ensure that our citizenry are also busy.”
Uzodimma appealed to the people to have patience with his administration as it made effort to fix the access road to the oil palm plantation and other oil installations in the area which were in deplorable condition.