Business

Bayelsa govt moves to revive comatose plastic company

By AHERHOKE OKIOMA, Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State government has hinted of plans to revive the comatose plastic company to enable it commence business activities, create jobs for the people of the state and generate revenue for the state government.

A visit to the state-owned plastic company by journalists, who were invited to tour the factory with a view to capturing its dilapidated state and efforts being made to revive the facility, revealed that all the machines and equipment have been carted away, while the few remaining were sighted in the warehouse.

From the gate to the entire premises, there was neither any activity, nor human presence, as journalists had easy access to the dilapidated facility during the fact finding mission.

The plastic industry was revived during the time of Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, as governor of the state, but the firm was abandoned when he left office.

Governor Diri Duoye

However, Governor Douye Diri had announced last year that his administration would revive the company after which it actually came alive before it collapsed again after a few months of operations.

Read Also: Africa, CHINA tasked on bilateral ties to overcome rising global challenges

In a statement issued by the state government, Diri had said: “We are ready to talk to our businessmen and ensure that all the components of the facility are completed in our tenure and become functional and useful for the benefit of Bayelsa people and Nigerians at large.”

Although the facilities were vandalised, looted and abandoned one year after Diri’s commitment, but information available to The Trumpet indicated that acting on the directives of the state government, Managing Director of the company, Ebimie Norman Niweigha, had started making arrangements to revive the firm in partnership with a German investor, U&H Integrated Services Limited.

As of the time of filing this report, Niweigha did not respond to all calls and text messages to his telephone line, but the state Commissioner for Trade and Investments, Federal Otokito, who responded to the development when contacted on telephone, said he was aware of the development and that the matter was already being handled.

“I am aware of the efforts being made to revive the company and return business activities to the factory and that is why we invited journalists to a tour of the facility. Efforts will be sustained to ensure that the company begins operations again soon enough.”

Click on The Trumpet and follow us on our Twitter page for more:

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
A note to our visitors

This website has updated its privacy policy in compliance with changes to European Union data protection law, for all members globally. We’ve also updated our Privacy Policy to give you more information about your rights and responsibilities with respect to your privacy and personal information. Please read this to review the updates about which cookies we use and what information we collect on our site. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our updated privacy policy.