By PETER EGWUATU

The Managing Director of Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Plc, Mr. Graham Clark, has said that its company will stimulate rural economy of Nigeria through backward integration programme and create many jobs.

*Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Speaking on the  Lagos floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during a bell ringing ceremony, Clark said  the company is  embarking on backward integration plan to reintroduce sugar production to Nigeria  and ultimately  to make the product  sufficient  in the market.

“We will increase our capacity significantly. It will enable us reach our retail market easier.  We are bringing agriculture back to the rural areas  in order to remain as  the largest commercial farmers in  Africa. We will bring new skills to rural Nigeria and employ many people,” he said.

Clark, who has over 30 years of experience in African sugar industry promised to bring his experience to bear and ensure that DSR delivers better returns to shareholders in the years ahead.

In line with the backward integration programme of DSR, the company recently acquired farm machinery worth  $35 million from Panafrican Equipment.

According to Clark,  “ The equipment acquisition, was  in line with the Backward Integration Policy (BIP) of the Federal Government of Nigeria and National Sugar Development Council (NSDC).

“This is yet another milestone in the Dangote Sugar journey as we work towards the achievement of our strategic sugar master plan to produce 1.5 million metric tonnes of sugar per annum, locally.”

Dangote Sugar is actively pursuing a backward integration master plan with a target of producing a total of 1.5 million tons of sugar locally per annum.  The subsidiary, Savannah Sugar Company Limited, Numan, Adamawa State is geared to meet this target. Savannah Sugar is located on 32,000 hectares of land with a 50,000 MT/PA sugar production capacity. Currently, the company has 5,000 hectares on cane which is now being harvested for sugar production.