The Benue Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC) is set to inaugurate the Food Basket Brewery in October 2025, alongside its Benfruit and juice factories, following an investment of between NGN 10 billion (USD 6.7 million) and NGN 15 billion (USD 10 million). According to BIPC’s Group Managing Director Dr. Raymond Asemakaha, the state-owned brewery will initially produce 10,000 crates of beer per day (720 hl) and target an estimated NGN 1 billion (USD 0.67 million) monthly beer consumption market in Benue State. Based on this daily output, the brewery’s estimated yearly capacity could reach around 250,000 hl. The project was first reported by inside.beer in May 2024 (inside.beer, 09.05.2024).
Benue State is currently home to only one operational brewery, Benue Brewery Limited in Makurdi, established in the early 1980s and later acquired and operated by Nigerian Breweries Plc. The facility produces regional beer brands and serves as part of Nigerian Breweries’ wider production network across the country. The state-owned investment company BIPC aims to use the project to anchor additional value and job creation within Benue State.
Employment will be rolled out in phases: 200 direct jobs in the first phase, another 200 in the second, and more than 1,000 indirect jobs, with total employment across the three new factories projected at 1,500. Once operational, the brewery alone could yield monthly revenues of NGN 400 million (USD 0.27 million) to NGN 500 million (USD 0.33 million). BIPC has so far received 26 truckloads of equipment, with the total expected to reach 50. Machinery shipments from China have begun arriving, and Chinese engineers will install the systems ahead of the October start-up.
These new facilities will join BIPC’s existing table water, nails, polythene, bakery, and bread factories, which have already created 580 direct and over 3,000 indirect jobs. Asemakaha credited Governor Hyacinth Alia’s support, noting that the project was partly enabled by his investment-focused trip to China. The initiative is seen as a strategic step to retain beer market revenues within Benue, strengthen the local economy, and reduce youth unemployment.
