Chairman of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Aliko Dangote says Nigeria could earn over $700m foreign exchange yearly from the Backward Integration component of its National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP), when executed as designed.
Dangote spoke recently while receiving some businessmen on a courtesy visit to in his office, even as he called for the protection of the BIP scheme to insulate the nation’s economy to enable it to achieve the twin objectives of local manufacturing and job creation.
According to him, “if the national sugar master plan is followed strictly and the players all follow the rules, the country will be better for it as Nigeria will save between $600 million and $700 million annually as forex,” he said.
He assured that the Dangote Group is scaling up its social intervention in communities hosting its companies across the country and that efforts were being made to impact positively on the host communities, following which the group had expended billions of naira in states where these investments are located.
Dangote explained that the Corporate Social Responsibility projects undertaken by his companies were in addition to efforts by his Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, which is presently giving out micro-grants to vulnerable women in all the 774 local governments across the country.
Minister for Industry, Trade, and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, recently paid a working tour of the Dangote’s Savannah Sugar Company (SSCL) Ltd in Numan, Adamawa State and Tunga sugar project site in Nasarawa State, describing them as “huge, impressive and amazing.”
Describing the Dangote sugar plantation in Nasarawa State as “a very impressive sight,” he expressed surprise that “such a project exists in this place.
“What we’ve seen so far from all the plantations we’ve been to are very impressive. We are impressed with the level of work they are doing.”
Group Executive Director, Government and Strategic Relations Mansur Ahmed, Dangote Industries Limited, the parent company, acknowledged Nasarawa State as one of the easiest states in the country to do business.
General Manager for the BIP, Dangote Sugar, John Beverley assured that when fully operational, the factory would have the capacity to crush 12,000 tons of cane per day, while 90MW power would be generated for both the company and host communities.
Last month, the Nasarawa State House of Assembly lawmakers who visited the Sugar Project site promised any legislative support that would make the project a success.
Group General Manager Alhaji Bello Dan-Musa had told the visiting lawmakers that when phase II of the project is completed, it would make it the largest integrated plant in Africa.
