Oil Millers Employ 10,000 Youths in Gombe

The Oil Millers Association says it has employed no fewer than 10,000 youths in Gombe State to work in various factories.

Malam Sani Ya’u, the state Chairman of the association, disclosed this in an interview on Friday.

Ya’u said that the youth employed were working in 750 different groundnut oil milling factories across the state.

He said the decision to employ them was informed by the level of rising unemployment in the country.

“The level of unemployment is increasing daily and becoming unbearable hence the need to engage and discourage them from restiveness,” he explained.

Ya’u said that during the harvest period, they milled 15 trucks of groundnut daily and each truck contains 30 tonnes, while at the dry season, they milled six trucks daily.

He said the groundnut oil were marketed in Bauchi, Borno, Adamawa,Yobe and Taraba states while Kaduna, Anambra and Ogun states buy groundnut cake for the production of fish and chicken feeds.

He said lack of central store for the storage of groundnuts was their major challenge, adding that during the dry season they had to travel to Chad and Cameroon to buy groundnut.

He therefore called on government to construct a central store for the millers to enable them store the groundnut during harvest period.

While noting that there was adequate power supply in the state, he however urged the government to assist them with the high cost of electricity.

He also called on the government to establish a standard refinery for them, which would improve the quality of the oil they produce.