The management of Dangote Sugar Refinery has received a commendation from Olusegun Aganga, minister for industry, trade and investment, on its remarkable progress towards meeting its sugar backward integration project targets.
Aganga, who was accompanied by Lateef Busari, executive secretary, National Sugar Development Council, while on a working visit to Savannah Sugar Company Ltd, Numan, Adamawa State, recently expressed satisfaction at the level of positive changes seen in the company since its acquisition by Dangote Group, and subsequently Dangote Sugar.
The visit, which coincided with Savannah Sugar 2013/2014 harvest season, afforded the minister and the team from National Sugar Development Council an opportunity to inspect Savannah Sugar facilities first hand and appraise the progress made so far in the sugar company in line with Federal Government’s New Sugar Master Plan introduced in September 2012.
The minister who was elated at the level of improvement in Savannah’s operations and activities, commended Dangote Group for the volume of investments it had made in the company, saying that it showed its seriousness and commitment towards the realisation of its sugar master plan to produce 1.5MT/PA locally from various sites across Nigeria.
He urged Dangote Group to continue with the trend, saying that one year from now Savannah Sugar will become a model, judging from what was found on ground, adding that the sugar complex will create thousands of jobs in addition to other benefits due to the extended value chain in sugar production.
He called on all the communities to support these projects, saying that they stand to benefit directly from the development.
Welcoming the minister, Graham Clark, Dangote Sugar group managing director, stated that the Group was committed to the delivery of its goals for the sugar backward integration projects, saying preparations were underway for commencement of activities at other sites starting with Lau and Tau in Taraba State.
According to him, in addition to Savannah Sugar, the development of these sites will be a complete package with various activities that will benefit the host communities, besides job creation.
