The Federal Government said manufacturers in export business will continue to enjoy incentives under the Exports Expansion Grants (EEG) scheme, declaring that the scheme’s not touched by the suspended imports duty waivers.

“There’s no blanket ban for industries in export business.  What are banned are ancillary incentives. The EEG is not banned. We have looked into the scheme and there has been no abuse by firms who are beneficiaries. The EEG is a successful and viable scheme. It’s not proscribed,” said Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Charles Ugwuh.

Addressing industrialists during the commissioning ceremony of Nigerian Bottling Company PLC Abuja Plants, the Minister said “I’m still reviewing the incentives, trying to find those ones that will be beneficial to manufacturers and recommend them to the government for sustenance.”
His words: “NBC you have done very well in Nigeria in terms of string of investments, product arrays and compliance with regulatory bodies as well as social responsibility. I urge you to integrate backward on natural fruits in the country for they are in abundance.”

Also speaking, FCT Minister, Aliyu Modibo Umar, who was former Minister of Industry, urged NBC and Coca-Cola to set up another plants in Abuja. I’ll give you land. One of my dreams for Abuja is to have companies to come and set up businesses in Abuja with first class structures like this one.  By the end of my tenure, Abuja will become a city of commerce accounting for about 80 per cent industries.
“The N5 billion modern plant is a combination of our investment efforts. Since 1999 to 2007, Nigerian Bottling Company PLC and the Coca-Cola Company have invested more than N50 billion,” said Managing Director NBC, Roland Ebelt.

According to Muhtar Kent, Chief Operating Officer, since inception of the company in the country in 1951, Coca-Cola Nigeria has grown to become the No.22 market based on global ranking and enjoys No.2 position in the whole continent of Africa and the drive is to become No.1. Pledging continuous commitment of NBC and Coca -Cola to the country with an annual investment of $100 million for the next 7 years, Chairman Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, George David, said “The commissioning of this plant is a demonstration of our success in the Nigerian economy. 12 other NBC plants across the country will be upgraded to become more efficiently and environmental friendly.”

Meanwhile, work started on the NBC Abuja Plant in 2005.  Occupying 5.1 hectares (300,000 meters) the factory 1,750 crates of 35 cl bottles of Coke per hour, 24, 000 35 cl per day returnable glass bottles (RGB) and approximately 6.3 million unit cases per annum at full capacity.
The plant is equipped with   latest technology in bottling called All Surface Empty Bottles Inspection Machine (ASEBIM) which carries out a full inspection on the empty bottles in the most precise and reliable way.

The plant is also equipped with latest state of the art Residual Liquid Detector (RCD) with a capacity to detect the presence of residual in the bottles before being filled with products.
‘‘With the technology, it will be very difficult or nearly impossible for our products to come out of the factory with foreign bodies or impurities as allegedly complained by some consumers of our products,” said Plant Manager Aliyu Paiko.

Contrary to consumers complaint, contaminated Coca-Cola products are not from our factories.  Unscrupulous individuals buy a bottle of Coke, gently opened it, contaminate it and put the cover back using manually corked machine.  They returned such contaminated bottle to our office expecting us to pay damages,” Aliyu noted

Source: Vanguard