Former Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, John Gaul Lebo, has been appointed Chairman, Board of Directors, Ayibeku Oil Palm Company Ltd. and Winsong M-house Ltd, owners of the 12,500 hectares Premier Palm Estate along Kilometer 9, Ikom Calabar highway, Akamkpa LGA, Cross River State.
Lebo informed that after completing preliminary survey activities, the company in partnership with Wilmar International, operators of Ibiae Palm Plantation, was set to flag off its CBN/Anchor Borrowers project, with the replanting of 12500 hectares of palm.
As a deliberate corporate-social responsibility, CSR, policy, shortly after it took over the estate in 2008, he also said, the firm allocated more than 745 hectares of cultivated area of the estate to host communities to manage and use proceeds realised, for community development. While engaging the host communities recently, Lebo said the leadership of Okarara community had informed him that the community was able to utilize the proceeds from the allocation the community got to build a school and also annually grade the 12-kilometer Okarara/Ikpan road located within the estate. He added that the company will continue with its CSR policy to the host communities until the re-cultivation of the portion of the estate allocated to the communities is done.
Shortly after he resumed as Chairman, Lebo successfully engaged the Bureau of Public Enterprise, Cross River State Government, Akamkpa Local Government as well as the leadership of the five host communities of Okarara, New Ndebiji, Akor, Iku and Abung.
Ayibeku Oil Palm Company Ltd. and Winsong M-house Ltd, acquired the premier palm estate from the federal government in 2008 after a successful bidding process overseen by the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE. Subsequently, the company bought over shares belonging to the federal government, Cross River state government and Akamkpa Local Government Area respectively.
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