The Director-General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Dr. Gloria Elemo, on Thursday said plans for the exportation of locally-brewed beverages to Europe and the Middle East would commence soon.
She made this known in Minna, Niger State capital while declaring open a two-day training for the empowerment of Muslim women on standard ‘Kunun Zaki’ Production techniques for local consumption and exports.
She said, “We are training these women on how to produce Kunun Zaki and other local beverages for safe consumption and export purposes to empower them even while they work from their homes”.
The Director-General, who was represented by Dr. Yemisi Asagbra, a director in the institute, said that the institute had perfected the technology of producing and preserving techniques of various local beverages to meet international standard.
She said her institute went into perfecting the production of these local beverages to meet global market standard due to the high demand of her local beverages in Europe and Middle East.
Earlier, the Director of Technology and Incubation Centre, Minna, Dr. Abdulmalik Ndagi, said participants were selected women, who were already into Kunun Zaki production at subsistent level, with the sole aim of improving their skills for large production of international standard.
Declaring the training open, the State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Mustapha Lemu urged participants at the workshop to key into the FIIRO local beverage export programme to enhance their economic base.
He said that the state government would provide conducive environment for them to commence qualitative beverage production for local and foreign consumption.