One of the leading indigenous firms in Nigeria, Sona Group of Industries on January 30th, 2019 inaugurated the firm’s effluent treatment plants in Sango -Ota, Ogun State.
The Effluent Treatment Plants were inaugurated in four of subsidiary units of Sona Group, namely: Euro Global Foods & Distilleries Limited, Sona Agro Allied Foods Limited, Food, Agro& Allied Industries Limited and Shongai Packaging Industries Limited on the same day
The effluent treatment plantswill treat the wastewater produced by the industries, which are undesirable by- products before release into the environment.
Speaking during the inauguration, the Commissioner for Environment, Ogun State, Bolaji Oyeleye, commended the efforts and investment of Sona Group and promised that the government would create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
“When we started up with them, we noticed they could do better and we started engaging with them. The result is what we are witnessing today. We want to implore them to put up this plant in any of their factories where they do not have it,” he said.
The Chairman, SONA Group, Arjan Mirchandani restated the group’s commitment to boost local food production in Nigeria, “the commitment, by the company was the surest way to save Nigeria’s foreign exchange spent on food products the country had competitive and comparative advantage of producing locally” he said.
According to him, Nigeria has over 50 per cent arable land that is underutilized, pointing out that the country has no business being poor if the land was put to effective use.
“We are here to cultivate more agricultural produce while also producing cheap and affordable food so that everybody can get something to eat. We believe environment is very important and when water is contaminated, it carries bacteria unless purified. We put up this plant to ensure that the water that is discharged is processed according to global best practices. The key is that we do not want any contamination when we are treating the water. We must be careful and mindful of the water that goes out in the environment,” he said. When treated water is discharged it does not contaminate the surface water. We also reuse the treated water for activities gardening, horticulture. So it helps us to reduce usage of fresh ground water, which in turn helps us to balance the water level.
He, however, called on the Federal Government to develop investment-friendly policies and infrastructure to attract foreign direct investments into the country.
“The Federal Government has to protect, guard and develop proper policies to help businesses and create the infrastructure to attract foreign direct investments,” he stated.
He said the company with about 15 industries in Nigeria, currently employs over 6,000 people and plans to increase its workforce to 10,000 courtesy of its expansion programmes.
“We are going to increase our capacity to about 300 per cent in the next two years because we are committed to providing quality food at affordable prices to the common man. Food requires hygiene and automation helps to ensure we reduce our cost of production. The key is how do we stop importation by producing what the country needs locally,” he added.
