Iorfa Akpen
After years of silence, BIPC walked into Taraku Mills on Friday June 19, 2026 and basically said: “This place is too fine to be abandoned.” GMD Dr. Raymond Asemakaha led the inspection and the verdict was clear: the N50bn plant is still in near-mint condition.
Next week, engineers roll in for dry testing. No full production yet, but the first real signs of life since 2013. The plan is simple: fix what’s needed, fire up the machines, and get Benue’s maize, feed, and oil lines moving again.
Asemakaha didn’t mince words. Every idle factory means missed jobs. With Governor Hyacinth Alia pushing industrial revival, Taraku Mills is the next target after BIPC’s fruit juice wins. The math checks out too: maize and feed mill can hit 120,000 pounds yearly, oil mill can do 320,000 pounds daily. That’s a lot of farm produce with somewhere to go, and a lot of paychecks for locals.
Big shoutout to Gwer East community. Two billion naira worth of spare parts sat there for years and nothing got stolen. That kind of watchfulness got noticed. Asemakaha even cleared five months of unpaid allowances for the security team on the spot.
Local council chairman Hon. Adi Nyiakura is backing the move too. His message: we’re ready to support and we want those jobs back.
Bottom line: Taraku Mills isn’t a ruin. It’s a restart. If dry testing goes well, Benue’s agro-industrial engine gets a serious boost.
