Photo caption: From left, Non-Executive Directors, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Uzoma Nwankwo and Benedikter Molokwu; the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of the company, Temitope Hassan; Chairman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Ravindra Singh Singhvi; and Abdu Dantata, another Non-Executive Director; Independent Non-Executive Directors, Maryam Bashir and Yabawa Lawan Wabi; and Olakunle Alake, also a Non-Executive Director, at the 17th Annual General Meeting held in Lagos on April 14, 2023.

Shareholders of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc on Friday approved the payment of N18.22bn as dividends for the full-year ended December 31, 2022, translating to a dividend per share of N1.50 kobo, with the company’s chairman, Aliko Dangote expressing happiness at the way company has been managed over the years.
He was particularly impressed at the way the company continues to re-investing its profit in and champion the Backward Integration Programme (BIP) for the sugar industry, even as the company is targeting the production of over 170,000 tonnes of sugar next season.
According to Dangote, “we are going to play our part in ensuring that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in sugar within a very short period. We are not the only players, but we will surely play our part. We should be able to produce over 170,000 tonnes which are by far, in the history of Nigeria, the highest to be produced locally.”
Meanwhile, the company’s turnover jumped by 46% to N403bn, compared to the N276bn recorded during the same period in the year before, while posting a Profit before Tax (PBT) of N82bn.
Dangote attributed this remarkable performance to the pragmatic approach deployed by the management while focusing on continued cost and process optimisation, improved efficiencies in every area of operations, and service delivery to our customers.
He pledged that the management would continue to implement strategic actions to sustain the performance with the support of all stakeholders with complete adherence to the tenets of the Federal Government’s Sugar Master Plan.
The chairman said part of the success recorded by Dangote Sugar was made possible by the management’s continued implementation of the Dangote Sugar Development Master Plan with the rehabilitation and upgrade of the Dangote Sugar Refinery’s Numan operations, facilities and land development, as well as the development of the Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited, the greenfield sugar project, and Tunga in Nasarawa State.
Concerted efforts, he stressed, “were made during the year to rise above the various challenges that came about due to the COVID–19 lockdown which affected project timelines considerably and continued to generally impact economic activities due to its spill-over effect, which also led to the lack of forex to finance most of the project deliverables.
“We however continued to surge ahead supported by the various stakeholders in the industry and government parastatals, with the resolve to ensure that the goals of the Nigeria Sugar Development Master Plan are achieved.
“The Company Chairman noted that during the year under review, the first phase of the Sugar Master Plan implementation period came to an end and that the Federal Government approved the second phase over the next 10 years. “This extension came on the back of the review of the first phase by the National Sugar Development Council and other government parastatals with cognisance of the challenges and several circumstances that were unforeseen which riddled the first phase of the programme,” he added.
Dangote restated the resolve by the board and management to focus on the achievement of the goals of the strategic initiative, and thus considerable progress was recorded in the project development, despite the numerous challenges faced.
Despite the obstacles ahead, Dangote promised that the management would continue to create sustainable value for all stakeholders through an inclusive approach to growth and development, with continuous engagement with all parties, to enable the company make a positive impact, support poverty eradication and food security, infrastructure development, empowerment for members of the immediate communities, and the society at large.
Also commenting on the performance which she said was far and above the previous year, Coordinator of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association, Mrs. Adebisi Bakare expressed the satisfaction of shareholders of the company, against the backdrop of all the encumbrances in the sugar sub-sector of the economy.
She urged the board and the management to continue in the direction they have taken to get the company to the current winning, assuring that the management has the support of the shareholders to post even better performance in the coming years.