Mike Espy

By James Overly

The U. S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will provide a $6.7 million loan to a subsidiary of Deamark Group, a New York-based agribusiness company. The loan will finance a large portion of the investment required for the construction and operation of a flour mill for the manufacture of bread flour in Uyo, Akwa Ibom’s capital city. The mill will produce 200 metric tons of flour per day.

The mill’s main customers will be flour distributors and commercial bakeries in Akwa Ibom’s main towns. The mill will grind a strain of wheat known as hard red. The mill will also produce wheat offal, a by-product used as animal feed, which will be sold to farmers and livestock owners.

The wheat will be purchased overseas, mostly from the United States. According to OPIC, Nigeria is the United States’ third-largest export market for wheat and the largest export market for hard red winter wheat.

The demand for wheat flour in Nigeria has grown significantly in the past ten years. Since 1988, the volume of retail bread sales has risen over 80 percent. Only 60-65 percent of Akwa Ibom’s population has access to sufficient quantities of bread flour.

"This project will have a profound impact on the nutritional development of Akwa Ibom’s population, providing a basic staple to thousands of Nigerians on a daily basis," said OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr., as he announced the loan. "Moreover," Mr. Mosbacher points out, "it is supported by the American wheat industry, which will source the wheat for the mill. We at OPIC are pleased to support a project with developmental and economic benefits for both the Nigerian and American wheat industries."

The project is a joint venture between Deamar Group and the Akwa Ibom Investment and Industrial Promotion Council (AKIIPOC). AKIIPOC is the primary agency implementing the state government’s investment and industrial promotion initiatives. It supervises the government’s economic development programs and institutions.

From the state government’s viewpoint, the project is a sterling example of the kind of integrated infrastructural development envisioned by Akwa Ibom Executive Governor Victor Attah and his team of commissioners. The flour mill will help improve the diet of Akwa Ibomites, provide jobs, and supply healthy feed for livestock.

The project is the outgrowth of cooperative study and investment counseling provided to the government of Akwa Ibom by Mr. Mike Espy, former U.S. secretary of agriculture and a former congressman from Mississippi. Mr. Espy said, "Governor Attah called me and asked me to help evaluate the state’s program in agriculture. He wanted help in identifying and designing agriculture-related projects that would attract foreign investors. The flour mill is the largest project to come this far, and the only one involving U.S. ownership." Mr. Espy estimated the total investment in the flour mill to be about $12 million.

Mr. Espy voiced strong enthusiasm for investment in Akwa Ibom. "The Akwa Ibom work ethic is very strong," he says, "and I must say, it has been a pleasure dealing with the governor and AKIIPOC, the investment agency. The Governor has so much integrity. Often, when you shake hands on a deal in Africa, it doesn’t mean anything. But it does with Governor Attah, and everything he says he will do, he does." Mr. Espy also commended the professionalism of AKIIPOC officials, noting the quality of studies and due diligence exercises he has participated in.