In a bid to restore the flow of cash in the state, the managing director of Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), Dr Raymond Asemakaha, has disclosed that work on the State’s Brewery has reached 75 percent,while that of the Benue fruit juice company, Benfruits, will commence this week.
The BIPC boss disclosed this at a one-day capacity building/training workshop on Economic Reporting organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Benue State Council, Makurdi, and also informed that the newly established bakery by the company is now making N4.4 million after tax from monthly sales.
According to the MD, “There is need to retain cash flow within the state, as a measure of salvaging the economic situation of the state, because the absence of Benue Brewery Limited (BBL) and Benue Cement Company (BCC), has grossly affected the inflow of cash into the economy of the state.”
Dr Asemakaha, who lamented the rising cost of foods in the state, including fruits, said BIPC’s intention is to partner with other agencies to lower the rising cost of food, which he said was on the high side.
“We will soon meet with market associations to work out modalities of bringing down prices of food items, and we are advocating for the setting up of an Agency that would regulate prices of commodities in the market,” he said.
Dr Asemakaha, who pledged that BIPC would grant newsmen access to the desired information, also called on the media to join in the fight against the rise in the cost of food items.
Declaring the occasion open, Governor Hyacinth Alia attributed lack of trust and transparency to the souring relationship between government and the media.
Represented by the chief press secretary Tersoo Kula, who presented a paper titled: “Sustaining Government Media Relationship in Nigeria in the 21st Century,” Kula warned against sensational journalism, that makes most journalists unable to defend or substantiate their report in most cases.
He emphasised that timely and accurate reporting makes for good government media relationship.
In his goodwill message at the occasion, Dr Stephen Numbeve, the state coordinator, RAAMP, said, journalists were critical to the development of any society, adding that their role to inform, educate and entertain gives them upper hand to the growth of any given society.
