Dangote Pledges to Make Nigeria Self-sufficient in Food Production

 *Rewards 77 distributors

Dangote Foods, comprising Dangote Flour Mills (DFM), Dangote Sugar Refinery and NASCON Allied Industries, on Thursday in Lagos rewarded 77 customers who distinguished themselves in 2017 with awards.

At the award night held at the Expo Centre of Eko Hotels, Lagos, 11 winners emerged from each of the geo-political regions while the rest were in the national category.

A total of 23 distributors won awards from Dangote Sugar Refinery; 27 from Dangote Flour Mills and 27 from NASCON Allied Industries.

Speaking at the 2018 Customer Celebration and Distributor Awards Night, President/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, said the event was organised in appreciation of customers for making Dangote Food products a household name in Nigeria.

According to Dangote, “We are gathered here in honour of our customers and distributors who have distinguished themselves in the distribution of our food products range, and also to thank all the staff at DFM, NASCON and Dangote Sugar for their contributions.”

The business mogul added: “We are a major player in the food sector where our business units-Dangote Flour Mills, Dangote Sugar Refinery and NASCON Allied Industries-are clear leaders in their respective fields. We are firm believers in the vast economic potential of Nigeria. This has informed our desire to invest massively in some states across the country. Our target is to ensure that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in all the sectors where we play.”

Giving an update on the strides of the group in the food sector, Dangote noted that “in the Sugar sector, we developed a sugar backward integration project plan targeted at the production of 1.5MT/PA from various sites across Nigeria in the next 10 years and we are acquiring about 150,000 hectares for sugar plantation in Adamawa, Taraba, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi and Niger States.

“We signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nasarawa State Government for the construction of an integrated sugar complex located at Tunga.”

He envisaged that this would generate over 100,000 employment opportunities from all the sugar projects, saying: “We will establish integrated sugar mills within these locations, generate electricity and produce animal feeds from bagasse and molasses.”

For Dangote Flour Mills, he said: “We have a three-point growth plan, which is to focus on sustaining high product quality, improving customer engagement and strengthening supply chain capabilities.

“We introduced new improved pasta product called ‘Excellente’ which comes with a new taste and in new packs. Our flour has remained the bakers’ choice and toast of many confectionary companies. We are currently conducting tests to evaluate the suitability of our soils in Nigeria to cultivate wheat.”

Dangote stated that new investments in NASCON Allied Industries would boost efficiency and enhance better returns, saying: “We are producing edible salt in several packages. We are also choice producers of industrial salts as well as planning to venture into the production of vegetable oil and tomatoes.”

The company president pointed out that the group’s push for backward integration in providing its own raw materials on a massive scale has led to the planned investment of $4.6 billion over the next three years in sugar, rice and dairy production alone, noting that this will eliminate the country’s reliance on imported materials, and the foreign exchange headaches that comes with it.

He further stated that the Dangote group annual revenues exceeded $4.1 billion in 2017, adding that “our new projects, including the world’s largest single train petroleum refinery, which is being built in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, at the cost of $12 billion will address Nigeria’s energy needs and eliminate importation of refined petroleum products.”

Also, Director of Dangote Sugar Refinery, Ms. Bennedikter Molokwu, in her welcome remarks on behalf of the three companies, commended the distributors' efforts in making it possible for Dangote food products to be the preferred choice in all households.

According to her, “You have helped to create awareness for Dangote food products across the six geopolitical regions, which has led to increased consumption of our products in the regions and better balance sheets for our food products’ companies.