Gumel, Jigawa (August 15, 2019) – WACOT Limited has honored Gov. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, the executive governor of Jigawa state with the WACOT Ltd Distinguished Honorary Patron award, for his substantial and outstanding services and contributions to the growth of Agriculture in the state.
Alh. Sadiq Kassim, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, TGI Group (parent company of WACOT Ltd) and National Deputy President National Sesame Seed Association of Nigeria (NSSAN) presented the award certificate to His Excellency, Gov. Mohammed Abubakar during the conferment ceremony at the inaugural stakeholders’ forum of the association held at the Gumel Emirates Foundation Hall in Jigawa.
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Manager, WACOT Ltd, Ms. Osenaga Umobuarie, described the support of the governor as laudable highlighting his enormous contributions and achievements in the state including encouraging sesame seed farmers through good agricultural practices leading to its global acceptance. She said, “Your excellency, under your watch, Jigawa has grown from a marginal sesame seed producer to the main producer in the country, placing Nigeria as the third-largest exporter of sesame seed globally with 580,000MT per annum”.
Gov. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar disclosed his continuous support for WACOT Ltd and its quest for the development and growth of agriculture in the state. “Our current strategy is to diversify our non-oil exports to meet the needs of our families and communities. We must be able to feed our two hundred million Nigerians and create jobs by doing this. We need to move away from the shocks associated with oil prices which have exposed our economy to factors outside our control”, the governor said.
He further acknowledged the contributions of WACOT Ltd in improving the lives of its farmers and resolved to work together to maintain the state’s reputation as the leading state in non-oil export produce in Nigeria.
Present at the ceremony was the Emir of Gumel, HRH Alh. Ahmed Mohammed Sani II, representatives of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), various agricultural development partners and community heads across the state.
WACOT Limited is a leading food and agro-allied company with sizeable investments in value chains of various crops across Nigeria from origination to aggregation, processing, supply chain and logistics, manufacturing and branding. Its areas of operation are edible nuts, cocoa, maize, sorghum, cotton and cottonseed, agrochemicals amongst others. WACOT Ltd is the agribusiness arm of Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group.
