Obasanjo Hails Locally Made Cassava Machine
By Bennett Oghifo
For the team of Techo Engineers, it was with a mixed feeling of profound fulfillment, amidst bated breath, as the select spectators watched President Olusegun Obasanjo admire a Cassava Processing Machine designed and fabricated by the company.
The Cassava Processing Machine was the lone but ingenious machine of its type displayed at an exhibition hosted by the Presidential Committee on Cassava Export in the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja between June 7, and 8, 2004.
Chairman Chief Executive of Techo Quip Ltd. Engr. Samson Makinwa, said the Forum could not have come at a better time, particularly now that the Federal Government is in search of an alternative to oil as the nation�s source of wealth.Techo Quip Ltd, a front liner in the fabrication of food and industrial processing machinery in the country, had put on display, an Automatic Cassava Processing Machine at the exhibition.
The equipment is designed to parboil, dry and mill cassava pellets, yam chips, rice and sundry food items.
It instantly caught the attention of Mr. President who had no problem recognizing it for what it is: A complete food drying and milling machine capable of being put into diverse uses and suitable to power government�s vision for cassava as a cash crop.
President Obsanjo took particular interest in the company�s entry because of the Federal Government�s plan for Cassava, not only as a foreign exchange earner, but also as a perfect capital-equipment capable of addressing the needs of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) as well as buoy up job creation efforts of government.
The president�s earlier inauguration of a presidential committee on Cassava Export Promotion, which midwifed the Cassava Stakeholders Forum & Exhibition therefore underscores the importance, which he attaches to cassava and all stakeholders involved in the development of the product which, he already projects, would rake in over $10 million.
Techo Quip�s Managing Director, Mr. Remi Abimbola personally briefed the President who visited his stand in the company of Chief Audu Ogbe, PDP National Chairman, the Minister of Commerce and other dignitaries. He explained that the equipment has the ability to dry as well as mill cassava, yam, rice and other food items placed in it. It utilizes heat energy derived from a heating device attached to the top of the equipment. A side rotary vent helps spread the heat in all directions to reach every food item in the segmented interior. It also has a milling component as well as a boiling chamber used for parboiling those food items that needed to be partly cooked before drying and milling.
Although President Obasanjo was visibly pleased by Techo�s entry other visitors who are aware of Techo�s command position in agro based engineering fabrications and were privileged to be at the exhibition, were not surprised. This is because in its corporate headquarters in Lagos, its warehouse is awash with sundry machinery designed to meet the capital equipment needs of diverse Small and Medium Scale enterprises.
|
