The President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said close to $500m have been expended on the Dangote Sugar Refinery in Tunga, Awe Local Government of Nasarawa State, North central Nigeria, with the project expected to generate 90 megawatts of electricity, as well as provide direct employment for thousands of Nigerians.
Alhaji Dangote said this when he led the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as well as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adebayo, on a tour of the facility.
According to him, when the project fully takes off, the Dangote sugar refinery will produce ethanol, power, animal feed and provide thousands of direct employment, as well as 150, 000 indirect employment.
He added that with excess power generated, Nasarawa State will no longer have power issues, as the refinery will sell power to the state.
Dangote explained that with the first investment on the 60000 hectares farm already costing his company $480 to $500m, it is conceived that the project has the prospect of growing up to one-third of the country’s sugar consumption, which is almost half a million tonnes.
He however said the project will require the support of the CBN and banks, to make the refinery a reality.
“That is why you see everybody here. Stakeholders are here, the governor is here, the minister, the CBN governor that will support us, and he has been supporting us, to make sure that this becomes a reality,” he said.
“You can see here, we have cleared quite a lot of land. Here we have the seed cane, we have done most of the infrastructure”.
“I am sure when you come back next year, you will see the massive transformation here. In two years, you will see production. With sugar, you will do it in phases. Right now, by next year, we have 60000 hectares, by the time we plant, the factory would have been ready and then we start feeding the factory, ” the Dangote Group president said.
Backward Integration
Dangote thanked the Federal government for its sugar master plan, which he said, is encouraging the group to venture into backward integration for sugar, thereby stabilising the naira and generating employment.
He thanked Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, for his continuous support for the project.
“This project is only possible when you have a governor who is looking for the development of his people. Because you have to have the community support, you have to have the governor’s support, he has to own the project as his baby.
“Otherwise, you are bound to have a problem with the community once in a while. But when you have a governor who is interested in the development of his people, it’s very easy to do so,” Dangote noted.
Speaking shortly after undertaking a tour of the farm, the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele, restated the apex bank’s support for the project, as it will give credence to the backward integration program of the federal government.
He decried a situation where the government spends close to between 600 to one billion dollars importing sugar into the country.
The CBN boss commended Governor Sule for providing the land for the project, describing the governor as a visionary leader who is thinking about the development of his state.
“Because by the time this factory kicks off, it will create jobs for his people. It will increase the revenue of his state and it’s going to help improve the economic viability of Nasarawa State among other states in this country,” Mr. Emefiele stated
Meanwhile, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otumba Adebayo, pledged that the federal government will continue to give every single support to see to the realization of the project, in a bid to make the country self-sufficient in sugar.
Commenting also, Nasarawa State Governor, appreciated Alhaji Dangote for bringing the sugar refinery project to the state.
According to the governor, the state government is more interested in the development that has come to the state, stressing that revenue will come only when the project itself begins to generate revenue.
Hauwa Abu
