Guinness in Nigeria
From THE BREWING TRADE REVIEW FEBRUARY 1962
NEW GUINNESS BREWERY AT IKEJA
The foundation stone of the Guinness Brewery at Ikeja was laid by Benjamin Guinness, Viscount Elveden, on 31st January, attended by the Western Nigeria Minister of Economic Planning and Community Development, the Rt. Hon. Oba C. D. Akran, the Nigerian Federal Minister of Finance, Chief F. S. Okotie-Eboh, and the Regional Minister, Western Nigeria Ministry of Economic Planning, Chief E. Anuku.
The brewery will probably be the largest ever built abroad by a brewer from Great Britain. The capital cost of the brewery will be about £2,000,000 and some Nigerian participation is planned. The building and civil engineering contractors and architects are Taylor Woodrow (Nigeria) Ltd. Nigeria is the largest single market in the world for Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and the brewery at Ikeja will be only the third built in two centuries of Guinness history. The brewery will produce Guinness identical to that brewed at present in Dublin and imported into Nigeria. The yeast, which will be sent from Dublin, will be the traditional yeast that has been used for decades in the brewing of Guinness.
Technical personnel from Dublin and London will be employed in the establishing of the Ikeja Brewery, but it is intended that Nigerians will be increasingly trained to occupy positions of responsibility in every sphere. It is expected that production will begin in October.
The foundation stone laid by Viscount Elveden was inscribed: "The Guinness Brewery. This foundation stone was laid by Benjamin Guinness, Viscount Elveden on the 31st day of January, l962. The stone is a piece of the St. James' Gate Brewery in Dublin which was founded by his ancestor seven generations ago in 1759."
Viscount Elveden is the grandson of the firm's present chairman, Rupert Guinness, Earl of Iveagh, who is the great-great-grand-son of the first Arthur Guinness, a facsimile of whose signature appears across the label of each bottle of Guinness sold in Nigeria.
Lord Elveden in his address stressed his pride in his company's contribution to the industrial development of Nigeria. Though small compared with the many millions of British capital going into the developing countries, the investment represents a very considerable sum for Guinness shareholders. He added that in this sense it is as much an Irish as a British contribution, but that in any case it is a very tangible expression of the great faith the company has in the future of Nigeria.
A casket buried beneath the foundation stone contains a number of articles typifying current life, such as recent Nigerian and Irish newspapers, air and railway timetables, a bottle of Guinness, and a special message for posterity from Lord Iveagh.