Dangote Harps on Effective Implementation of Sugar Master Plan to Achieve Desired Result

Ugo Aliogo

The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has said the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP), if effectively executed can fetch the nation foreign exchange in excess of $700 million yearly, from the backward integration component of the plan.

Dangote disclosed this recently in Lagos, during a courtesy visit to the Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc by some businessmen.

He, however, stressed that the Backward Integration Policy (BIP) policy must be enforced so as to achieve the twin objectives of local manufacturing and job creation.

“If the national sugar master plan is followed strictly and the players 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.

Dangote also told the visitors that the Dangote Group was scaling up its social intervention in communities hosting its companies across the country.

He said efforts were being made to impact positively on the host communities saying his companies had expended billions of naira in states where these investments are located.

Dangote explained that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) 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.

The Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, who was on a working tour of the Dangote’s expansive Savannah Sugar Company (SSCL) Limited in Numan, Adamawa State and Tunga sugar project site in Nasarawa State, had described the projects as, “huge, impressive and amazing.”

The minister had said about the Dangote’s sugar plantation in Nasarawa State: “It is a very impressive sight. Amazingly, such a project exists in this place.”

He added: “What we have 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 of the company, Mansur Ahmed, had described Nasarawa State as one of the easiest states in the country to do business.

General Manager for the BIP, Dangote Sugar, John Beverley had said when the factory was fully operational, it would have the capacity to crush 12,000 tons of cane per day, while 90MW power would be generated for both the company’s use and host communities.