FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Chief Kola Jamodu, Chairman, Nigerian Breweries; Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Executive Governor, Ogun State and Chief Abraham Akanle, representative of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the commissioning of the upgraded Ota brewery recently
Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo have commended the backward integration policy of Nigerian Breweries
The duo who spoke at the commissioning of the company’s upgraded brewery in Ota, Ogun State enjoined other corporate organisations to follow the fruitful example of Nigerian Breweries Plc.
At the ceremony, Governor Amosun, who was informed by the Chairman of Nigerian Breweries Plc Chief Kola Jamodu, about the successes the company has recorded in terms of its local sourcing and backward integration agenda, specifically commended the company for the local sourcing of over 50% of its raw materials and 95% of its packaging material. According to the governor, “It will be in our collective interest for companies in Ogun state and even the entire country to source their materials locally. Backward integration and import substitution is the master key to a self-sustaining economy”. He promised that the government will continue to provide necessary conditions for business to operate smoothly in the state.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, represented by Chief Abraham Idowu Akanle while congratulating the company on the upgrade of the brewery, described the private sector as the engine room of economic growth. He also called on other corporate organisations to hasten their journey toward the backward integration destination.
While welcoming guests to the occasion, Chief Kola Jamodu, Chairman, Nigerian Breweries Plc, explained that the company has a robust local sourcing programme that has seen it achieve 50 per cent local sourcing for raw materials used in production process. According to him, “our vision is to achieve the 60 per cent local sourcing benchmark for raw materials by 2018 in line with our long term sustainability agenda, ‘Brewing a Better World (BaBW’.” Jamodu added that the progress currently being made in this regard supports Heineken ambition to source 60 percent of its raw materials in Africa locally by 2020.
He disclosed that in 2015, the company made progress in increasing the supply of sorghum used for some of its beverages. “More than 100, 000 tonnes of the cereal were purchased during the year. We also made progress in the commercialization of the new hybrid sorghum varieties – CSR-03H and CSR-04H, which were developed through the intervention of Nigerian Breweries.”
Similarly, the company has since 2015, been working with a local cassava processing company to optimize the cassava value chain in the country by providing industrial quality cassava starch to extract maltose syrup for use in its brewing process.
Ogun state is home to two of the ten operating breweries of the company and also plays host to a myriad of ancillary companies that Nigerian Breweries supports.
It was a seven-star performance for Chain Reactions Africa (CRA), one of Africa’s leading Public Relations and Integrated Communications Consultancy as it took home seven African SABRE trophies, more than any other public relations firm in Africa in the 2024 competition.
The awards which were held at the end of the annual African Public Relations Association (APRA) Conference, were presented by Provoke Media, organizers of the awards in Basam, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivore on May 16th 2024.
The work covered campaigns for the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), and its Lagos Blue Rail, 9mobile’s The Hack – Expand Your Hustle’, ‘Taming the Bull’ for the Presidency, ‘Next Era of Happiness’ for leading biscuit company, Pladis Foods Nigeria Limited.
Receiving the awards on behalf of Chain Reactions and its clients, was its Managing Director/Chief Strategist, Israel Opayemi, who noted that this is a seven-star performance by Chain Reactions Africa at the 2024 SABRE Awards.
In his comments Opayemi said “to emerge as the highest winner at the 2024 edition of the award with seven SABRE Awards is humbling as well as exciting for us at Chain Reactions Africa. We are immensely proud to be honoured on such a global platform like the SABRE awards which is the holy grail of Public Relations globally as the awards programme is dedicated to benchmarking the best PR works across the globe.”
He continued, “I am making a three-fold dedication of these multiple trophies to our clients who believe in us, my team members who do the brave works relentlessly and our dear country Nigeria. Ten years ago, we were at the SABRE Awards in Miami, Florida in the United States watching and applauding as winners took turn on stage. Ten years ago, we were asking for a seat at the table. Today, we are sitting in creative resplendence at the head of the table. Today, we are flying the Nigerian flag on the global stage. We are now a territory of reckon and relevance in the global PR space.”
It seems winning awards is just a Chain Reactions thing, chuckled Arun Sudhaman CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Provoke Media, organizers of the SABRE Awards as Opayemi rose up seven times to receive the awards. The PR consultancy also picked up four Certificates of Excellence in recognition of its work launching the Nigerian Youth Trend Report 2024 known as ‘ARAMANDA’, ‘Next Era of Happiness’, ‘Lagos Blue Rail’, ‘The Hack – Expand Your Hustle’, and ‘Taming the Bull’.
In his reaction, President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) described the awards by Chain Reactions Africa as “a harvest of honours for Nigeria”. He thanked the Chain Reactions Africa team for their outstanding works saying, “thank you for making us proud.”
Chain Reactions Africa has over the years won several prestigious SABRE awards and has been awarded more than 15 Certificates of Excellence. At last year’s award, the company won CEO of the Year category for the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for use of public relations to tell the story of his administration’s achievements and scooped two Certificates of Excellence in the Corporate Image category for the ‘Momentum Campaign’ for Cellulant, a flagship payment solution provider; and ‘Marketing to Consumers’ category for ‘The #NaijaHighlandah Campaign’ for William Lawson’s, Scotch Whiskey brand.
The 2024 Africa SABRE Awards shortlist included more than 120 campaigns, selected from over 500 entries in this year’s competition, which recognizes Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation and Engagement. The campaigns were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders.
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