Governor Nasir el-Rufa’i of Kaduna state has commissioned the N2.5 billion Falgates Rice Mill and the multi-billion Naira Galaxy Mall as part of the 7th Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KadInvest 7.0) which kicked off Thursday.
Falgates is an agric and agro-allied company, which has the largest rice mill in Kaduna state, situated at Sobawa, Rigachikun in Igabi local government area of Kaduna state.
The Galaxy Mall is an 11,000m² shopping mall located by Murtala Mohammed Square in the city centre with Shoprite as anchor tenant and spaces for cinema hall, restaurant, and variety of shops.
El-Rufa’i said the Galaxy Mall, a public private partnership, would develop the city and create job opportunities as well as ensure social impacts.
“This new mall will maximise retail marketing in Kaduna state. There would be cinemas, restaurants and shops with Shoprite as anchor tenant. Shoprite will open before Christmas,” he said.
The Managing Director of Kaduna Market Development Company, Tamar Nandul on her remarks said the development partners, Amsalco contributed N800 million to the multi billion naira project, adding that the mall boasts Shoprite, 8,445 letable shops, 53 shops and cinemas with 341-seating capacity.
Speaking at the Falgates Rice Mill, Governor el-Rufai praised the proprietor, 32-year-old Sadiq Falalu, for investing in Kaduna.
Falgates’ proprietor said the journey of setting up the rice mill started in 2016, when he approached the Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA) for land allocation.
He added that the company later acquired the land to set up the largest rice processing plant in Kaduna state, with processing capacity of about 300MT per day; “that is over 100,000MT per annum.”
According to Sadiq, Falgates employs over 400 people and has created 1,000 indirect jobs, adding that it has built a school for the Sobawa community, which has over 50 students.
“The Village Head of Sobawa donated a part of his land and we built the Fulani Community School in which today, we have over 50 students, because we all know that education is one of the pivots to the growth of any society,” he said.
