Egyptian engineers assess Taraku Mills ahead of planned restart

The Benue State Government is working with Egyptian engineers to bring the dormant Taraku Mills factory in Gwer East Local Government Area back into production. The state's Benue Investment and Property Company, led by its managing director, Raymond Asemakaha, has begun the revitalisation process, and a team from Al Wadi Al Akhdar Oil Mills of Cairo inspected the plant.

The team leader, Saleh Mansury, said after the on-site assessment that the factory was roughly 75 per cent ready for full production, with the remaining work involving upgrades to bring some sections into line with modern technology. He singled out the boiler and solvent units, and said additional production lines, including for cake, were being considered once the plant is running. A second engineer, James Emmanuel, gave a similar assessment.

Mansury urged farmers in the state to expand cultivation of soybeans, groundnuts and maize, the raw materials the mill depends on. Taraku Mills was built to process Benue's oilseed harvest, and a working plant would give farmers in Gwer East and surrounding areas a nearby buyer instead of shipping raw produce out of the state.