Ebonyi salt yearns for investors
The salt industry in Uburu and Okposi Okwu, both in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, is yearning for investors willing to tap into the burgeoning opportunity.
Uburu and Okposi Okwu are blessed with brines from which women in the two communities produce salt using a method that can best be described as crude and traditional.
The traditional method used by women in the two communities involves heating the brine in large pots for six to 10 hours, a process that enables the water to turn into salt.
But the salt, brownish in colour at this point, is put into a container for two to four hours and allowed to cool and dry. After this stage, the salt is spread on mats for some two to four hours to allow it dry thoroughly and become fit for human consumption. The whole process is laborious and time-consuming.
Real Sector Watch found during a visit to these two communities that even without machinery and sophisticated equipment, the women of Uburu and Okposi produce salt that sells in the neighbouring communities.
With better machinery for production and packaging, as well as a more organised distribution system, investors have a much higher advantage.
Owing to lack of modern and suitable equipment, the salt produced by Uburu and Okposi women sometimes contains sand, which could have been avoided if modern methods of salt production and processing such as vacuum evaporation method and rock mining system are employed.
One key advantage of the salt lakes in the two communities is that they do not get dry, whether in rainy or dry season. Another advantage posited by villagers is that the salt is medicinal, cures goitre and a sought-after by traditional medicine practitioners.
However, willing investors are expected to carry out bankable geological studies to determine the sustainability of the brines. Villagers told this writer that the brines have remained the same way for over 50 years, which implies literally that it may continue to provide the key input (brine) to a salt factory for a long time. Nevertheless, experts say this can only be confirmed when a geological study is carried out.
The investors do not need to acquire a mining licence as the state government already has this, which, according to state officials, means that Ebonyi is ready for business.
“The first thing to do is to do an exploration,” Sunday Ugwuocha, senior special assistant to Ebonyi State governor on cement and salt production, told this newspaper.
“The investor needs to carry out bankable geological studies. This is one way the bank can stand behind him. We are donating our land. Security is there already, and we will make sure the exploration licence is utilised. Any investor with modern processing equipment can partner with the state government on this,” Ugwuocha said.
The salt lakes in the two communities have a long history. Villagers told Real Sector Watch that the brines served as succour to the people of South-east Nigeria during the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967 to 1970.
According to them, it was the lake that helped some children and women from that part of the country to survive the war. Apart from helping to cure a disease known as Kwashiokor, it healed goitre.
“During the Biafran War, there was a trade boom here,” said Godwin Akpandu Okoro, the traditional ruler of Enu-Uburu Kingdom, a community within Uburu.
“During the war, the entire Nigeria was coming here for salt business. So I am convinced that this can become a huge industry now,” Okoro said.
The salt industry in the two communities has not been without intervention. In March 2009, the Japanese government assisted Ebonyi State with $87,939 grant for the installation of salt processing plants in Uburu, Okposi and Idembia, another salt-endowed community in the state.
This project was done under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP). It was executed under the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Poverty Reduction through Productive Activities. Toshitsugu Uesawa, the then Japanese ambassador to Nigeria, stated that the purpose of the grant was to provide women involved in salt production in Ebonyi State with modern salt processing equipment to enhance both quality and quantity of salt produced.
However, the equipment procured by UNIDO for salt processing in Uburu and Okposi was unsuitable and antiquated. The processing facilities, as discovered during the visit to the communities, are now overgrown with weeds and abandoned.
According to experts, the salt industry requires new and modern processing equipment that can stand the test of time.
Revival of and investment in Uburu and Okposi salt have become imperative at a point Nigeria is looking at developing its non-oil sector to drive growth. This requires more urgency now that Nigeria, a country with over 180 million population, has few salt makers, such as Nascon Salt, Union Dicon and Royal Salt.
“Ebonyi salt will enable Nigeria to have genuine salt manufacturers, I mean those who produce salt from start to finish. It means we can have people who process, package and sell salt to Nigerians,” said Ugwuocha.
A native of Okposi, who gave his name as Chima, said whoever throws in money into the industry will likely reap gains, and will create jobs and wealth at the same time for the people of the community.
ODINAKA ANUDU