Three Nigerian Conglomerates in Bitter Sugar War

Dangote Group, Flour Mills, and BUA Group are currently locked in a bitter war over multiple issues relating to their interests in cement and sugar. Chairman of Dangote Group of Companies, Aliko Dangote, and Chairman of Flour Mills Nigeria, John Coumantaros, had on January 28, 2021, written to the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, accusing BUA's refinery in Bundu Free Trade Zone in Port Harcourt, of undermining the national sugar master plan (NSMP). The NSMP is a policy roadmap for sugar production that was introduced in 2013. Its aim is to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production and save foreign exchange on the importation of sugar and ethanol. They argued that the country currently had enough refining capacity to meet national demand. However in the ensuing row, BUA Group Chairperson Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu said his investment in Port Harcourt "did not in any way pose a threat to the country's sugar policy". He added that BUA would rather stop arbitrary price increases by the major players.