With the aim of promoting investment in the country, Nigeria Breweries Plc is planning to invest heavily on the establishment of brewery plants across the country before the end of this year.

Disclosing this to newsmen at the Pre-AGM Media briefing in Lagos, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Michiel Herkemij said the company will invest in the establishment of a new Malting plant in Aba, new brewery houses in Lagos, new bottling line in Aba, Fayrouz production in Ibadan, among others.

He said the company is going to take its corporate social responsibility more seriously this year. Towards this, he said a code of conduct has been adopted by the company.

"Our business is conducted with integrity and due regard to the legitimate interest of all stakeholders. As part of this, we have adopted policies such as Code of Business Conduct, Community Involvement Policy and Environmental Policy which provide for Nigerian Breweries Plc to ensure that its existence and operations remain within the law. Our employees are expected to comply with the laws and regulations of our country.

"We believe that corruption is evil in the business environment as it is in the society generally. We maintain appropriate anti-corruption policies and programmes in our business. Accordingly, Nigerian Breweries Plc does not give or receive, whether directly or indirectly, bribes or any other incentives to obtain improper advantages for business or financial gain," he said.

He said the company believes in equal opportunity for all employers and safety of its employees. "Nigeria Breweries Plc is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on any grounds. Thus, we provide employment opportunities to physically-challenged persons.

However, this actually goes beyond the need to ensure that there is no discrimination against such persons, but driven by a deep conviction that even in disability, there could be immense ability. At present we have five physically- challenged persons in our employment.

"In today’s competitive business landscape, human capability has been found to be a key factor for corporate success.

The critical challenge towards continuous performance improvement remains the capability and speed of response to changes in the business environment through people development. Thus, a drive in the right direction for employees’ development is imperative for sustainable superior company performance. In Nigeria Breweries Plc, we believe strongly that we must win with our people. We must not only enable employees to perform in their day-to-day job but must unlock their potentials and make it possible for them to unleash energy for uncommon results to achieve business goals.

"Continuous training and upgrading of skills at all levels of the company is therefore the key to achieving a meaningful competitive advantage and long-term business success.

"We provide our employees both operational and leadership training within and outside Nigeria to expose them to best practices and improve knowledge transfer at international level," he said.