By Gbenga Akinfenwa (TheGuardian @ https://guardian.ng/)
05 September 2021 | 3:26 am
The Ondo State House of Assembly has lauded the expansion project of the Okitipupa Oil Palm (OOP) Plc, as the company is set to plant new high-yielding palm trees on its virgin 6,000 hectares of land.
The House gave the commendation during the oversight visit of its Committee On Commerce, led by Olalekan Elegbeleye to the company last week, after it was briefed by the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Taiwo Adewole, who led the management team to receive the lawmakers.
Elegbeleye who spoke on behalf of the 12-man delegation said the expansion project was remarkable, coming at a time when the state government was mobilising all hands to generate employments, stressing that the expansion would bring a huge economic relief to the people and the state as a whole.
He said: “This is an elastic project, it is remarkable, it is worth celebrating, when you note that it would give job opportunities to hundreds of skilled professionals and thousands unskilled labour and in addition has the capacity to jump-start other job-creating industrial outfits. Again when it is viewed from how it would positively impact on crime reduction because hundreds of youths would be weaned from crimes, then, it is not an over statement to say it is worth celebrating.”
The head of the delegation also expressed joy on the rapid recovery of OOP Plc, just within two years of the new management team put together in 2018 by the shareholders in conjunction with the state government.
The Chairman described the resuscitation of the company, which had been moribund for over a decade as “miraculous, inspirational, and a lesson to others that with determination and the deployment of the right experts, no company should be written off as dead or failure.”
The Chief Executive Officer, Adewole told the delegation that among the strategic measures adopted by the management to resuscitate the company were: introduction of a cashless regime, out-sourcing of some critical operations and services, which hitherto were exploited to siphon funds, licensing of contractors for harvesting of fruits and maintenance of the plantations.
Adewole said some other landmark achievements of the new management included holding of the company’s Annual General Meeting; the first in more than 15 years, payment of dividends to shareholders, first in nearly 30 years, as well as payment of annual fees (after increment) to land-owners, first in over 30 years.
