Dangote, Flour Mills, BUA at War over New Sugar Refinery

09 Apr Dangote, Flour Mills, BUA at War over New Sugar Refinery

The frosty relationship between Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu, Africa’s richest and sixth richest men respectively according to Forbes’s estimate, has again broken open over investment issues, this time, a sugar refinery.

In a joint petition to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Niyi Adebayo, dated January 28, 2021, Dangote, and the Chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, John Coumantaros, have said the establishment of a new sugar refinery plant in the country by BUA Group posed a threat to the attainment of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) as well as sustainability of Nigeria’s local sugar industry.

They argued that the country currently has enough refining capacity to meet national demand and so protested the recent commissioning of a sugar refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by BUA International, one of the operators in the sugar industry.

Dangote, chairman of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, told the Minister in a letter that the establishment of a sugar plant by BUA International Limited, owned by Rabiu in the Port Harcourt free trade zone was out of tune with export laws.

“The mid-term review conducted by the NSDC (National Sugar Development Council) was clear in its conclusions – BUA has failed to invest substantively in local production or comply with its undertakings under its BIP,” Dangote said in a letter jointly signed with John Coumantaros, chair of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, a fellow maker of the product.

“BUA intend only on importing and refining raw sugar whilst claiming to be investing in developing sugar plantations in order to qualify for quotas to import raw sugar.”

But in a swift response, Chairman of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, said the company took serious exception to what he described as the ludicrous claims by his two major competitors, pointing out that his sugar export-focused project in Port Harcourt, would not affect in any way, the backward integration programme, stressing that “the only way it will affect Nigerians is that Nigerians will pay lower prices for sugar.”

He said the investment in Port Harcourt does not in any way pose a threat to the country’s sugar policy, adding that it will rather checkmate arbitrary price increase by the major players among other benefits to the country.

“BUA takes serious exception to the ludicrous claims by its two major competitors that it aims to circumvent the BIP of the sugar industry – an initiative in which it has invested billions of Naira and is almost nearing completion,” it said in a rejoinder to the sugar policy contravention indictment.

“To thus claim that the BUA PH export focused refinery in an Export Zone will amount to an undermining of the NSMP (National Sugar Master Plan) is false.”