It was a weekend of celebration and recognition as Erisco Foods Limited, the leading tomato paste manufacturer in Nigeria, held its end of year party and long service awards as a way of recognising and rewarding employee loyalty to the company, for a period of ten years and above.

The event, which held at the Industrial headquarters of Erisco Foods Limited in Alausa, Ikeja also served as a stock taking event, taking into cognizance the progress and challenges faced by the organisation as well as providing insight into Erisco Foods Limited global plans for the coming year 2023.

The President/Chief Executive Officer, Chief Dr. Eric Umeofia in his speech appreciated the collective efforts of all members of staff for their contributions towards the successes recorded by the company in the year 2022, that culminated in the conferment of National Productivity Order of Merit award by President Muhammadu Buhari. He further said the award was in recognition of the various milestone successes recorded by the company, which also made the Nigerian Defence Academy, the foremost military institution in Nigeria to confer an Honorary Doctor of Management Science Degree on Chief Dr. Eric Umeofia. “All these successes have been recorded because of the incredible support given to us by all members of staff across all levels. As it’s our tradition, we celebrate and recognize the incredible role they continue to play” he said.

The President/CEO further reiterated that the successes also came with daunting challenges which includes the lack of support and patronage from most MDA’s and some Nigerians alike, who prefer foreign products, irrespective of its quality. Unfortunately, these challenges have hindered Erisco Foods production capacity, as they are yet to utilize up to 15% of the plant’s installed capacity per annum, since inception till date, due to the frustrations by our MDA’s, particularly our financial institution, etc. He regrettably stated that the failure of the MDA’s to fully implement the ban on tomato paste in retail packs by President Buhari’s administration has led to the unprecedented dumping of substandard tomato paste in various markets across the country, and warned Nigerians to be wary of imported substandard tomato paste.

Chief Dr. Umeofia commended the acting DG of NAFDAC for her determination in bursting the warehouses of some of these unregistered and substandard tomato paste in major markets in Lagos, and equally encouraged them to spread the operation in all markets across the country. He also advised Nigerians to patronize made in Nigeria products as it’s the only way to our economic survival.

The highlight of the event was the award and presentation of cheques ranging from N2.5M to N1M to deserving staff members who have been loyal to the company from 10 years 16 years. In addition to the cash gifts, management also awarded a scholarship of N500,000.00 as tuition fees per year to one child for each of the beneficiaries, until the completion of their studies in any higher institution in Nigeria. Other categories of prizes include most outstanding staff in all departments, Employee of the year and most punctual staff in production and in Administration.

The atmosphere got charged and ecstatic as the President/CEO presented keys of three brand new cars to three outstanding and loyal staff of the company as a reward for their consistency and loyalty.

This is impressive and worthy of emulation