Economy
Dangote to Build $450m Sugar Production Factory in Niger
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A sugar production factory capable of creating over 15,000 jobs is to be situated on a 16,000-hectare of land at Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State.
On Wednesday, August 23, 2017, President of Dangote Group, Mr Aliko Dangote, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government for the $450million state-of–art and fully integrated sugar complex.
Mr Dangote noted that his decision to start the factory was part of his desire to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production through the government’s backward integration policy.
At the signing today in Minna, Mr Dangote said when the project is completed, it would bring about a complete economic turn-around for the state.
Dangote Group is currently operating out-grower scheme in rice production in a number of states and also has Africa’s largest sugar refinery in Lagos and a sugar cane plantation in Numan, Adamawa State.
Mr Dangote said his investment was informed by his company’s firm belief in the potentials of the Nigerian economy, adding that the new outlay will add value and create jobs for Nigerians.
He commended the Niger State Governor, Mr Abubakar Sani Bello for his foresight and efforts to woo investors to the state, noting that “the Dangote’s Integrated Sugar Project in Niger State will also include the establishment of integrated sugar mills, generate power, produce molasses, ethanol fuel, biomass and produce animal feeds.”
In his remarks, Governor Bello said the deal will revolutionize agriculture in his state and Nigeria. Expressing joy that the MoU was signed during his own administration, he described Mr Dangote as the liberator of the Nigerian economy and a dependable partner.
The Governor then urged Dangote Group to explore other investment opportunities available in the state, just as he announced that the state was opened for multi-sectoral investments.
Representative of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Aminu Bisala, described Mr Dangote as the biggest private sector supporter of the Nigerian economy, and Federal Government policies.
He said the Federal Government was comfortable with the numerous investments efforts of the Dangote Group.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Niger State Traditional Council Etsu Nupe, Mr Abubakar Yahyah said he was elated about the huge investment coming to the state, while praying God to bless the Dangote Group more.
Just last week, the conglomerate had sponsored an investment summit in the state, which was attended by former Presidents Abdulsalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo and the then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, who described the private sector as key to the country’s economic development.
Group Managing Director of Dangote Sugar Plc, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, stated that the MoU would be a game changer for Niger State economy and Nigeria as a whole.
He said the integrated sugar mills will have the capacity to produce 160,000MT of raw sugar, pointing out that has been in the fore front of support for government industrialization programmes through backward integration policy in agriculture.
According to him, the Dangote Sugar Refinery is developing a sugar backward integration plan through the production of 1.5MT/PA in ten years in: Nasarawa, Adamawa, Kogi, Kwara, Taraba and Niger states respectively.
The Group’s Executive Director Stakeholders’ Management and Corporate Communication, Mr Ahmed Mansur, had also announced that the Group was investing over $1billion in the agricultural sector in the country, specifically in rice, sugar, tomato and dairy productions.
Niger State Commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Industry, Rahmatu Muhammad Yar’Adua said that the deal with Dangote Group will help grow the agricultural sector and create direct and indirect jobs in the state.
It would be recalled that the Group’s foray into sugar business began in 1981. It has injected over $104million into the Savannah Sugar Company Limited it acquired from government in 2003. Savannah Sugar this year alone, produced 20,000MT of raw sugar from its plantation.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.16 per cent decline on Tuesday, January 21, extending its loss this week to two.
This further depleted the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange by N1.65 billion at the close of transactions to N1.071 trillion from the N1.073 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slid by 4.79 points to wrap the session at 3,100.33 points compared with 3,105.12 points recorded in the previous session.
The bourse ended with two price losers yesterday led by Geo Fluids Plc, which gave up 32 Kobo to trade at N4.38 per share versus Monday’s closing price of N4.70 per share and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which depreciated by 15 Kobo to close at N39.50 per unit compared with the previous day’s N39.65 per unit.
On the second trading day of the week, the number of deal carried out slightly went up by 8.3 per cent to 13 deals from the 12 deals executed at the previous trading session.
Also, the value of transactions increased by 97.2 per cent to N4.5 million from the N2.5 million recorded a day earlier, while the volume of securities traded in the session declined by 71.6 per cent to 183,780 units from the 767,610 units recorded on Monday.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most traded equity by value (year-to-date) with 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and 11 Plc with 55,358 sold for N14.5 million.
Also, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 25.3 million units worth N5.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.1 million units valued at N162.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, making its value to shrink against the United States Dollar at the close of business.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the domestic currency crashed against its American counterpart during the session by 0.18 per cent or N2.73 to settle at N1,552.78/$1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,550.05/1.
But against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, the local currency traded flat in the official market yesterday at N1,906.98/£1 and N1,613.48/€1, respectively.
As for the black market segment, the Naira weakened against the Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to sell for N1,670/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,665/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market heaved a sigh of relief during the session as President Donald Trump created a crypto task force dedicated to “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
The task force will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time advocate for the crypto industry, and will work closely with the crypto industry to develop regulations. This is after Mr Gary Gensler, an opponent of crypto, officially stepped down as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Mr Trump’s term started.
The task force will also work with Congress, providing “technical assistance” as it crafts crypto regulations.
Solana (SOL) recorded a 9.2 per cent growth to sell at $257.09, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 7.6 per cent to $0.36789, Ripple (XRP) added 4.0 per cent to finish at $3.18, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 3.7 per cent to $105,515.03.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to close at $699.01, Cardano jumped by 2.1 per cent to trade at $0.9972, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 2.0 per cent to settle at $3,308.21, and Litecoin (LTC) went up by 1.5 per cent to end at $116.72, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The price of the Brent crude oil grade went below the $80 mark on Tuesday after it shed 86 cents or 1.1 per cent to trade at $79.29 per barrel after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, signaled the possibility of his country boosting its oil production.
This move raised concerns of higher US output in a market widely expected to be oversupplied this year, with the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures falling by $1.99 or 2.6 per cent during the session to $75.89 per barrel.
On his first day in office, the US President signed an executive order to unleash America’s energy by easing the barriers to oil and gas extraction and production and revoking a series of climate orders by former President Joe Biden.
As pledged in the campaign, the executive order follows the declaration of a national energy emergency.
The declaration includes measures to expedite energy infrastructure delivery, and emergency approvals by agencies “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands.”
This will likely confirm expectations that the oil market will be oversupplied this year after weak economic activity and energy transition efforts weighed heavily on demand in top-consuming nations the US and China.
President Trump also said he was considering imposing 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from February 1, rather than on his first day in office as promised.
The delay helped ease concerns of an immediate tightening of the market among US refiners, many of which are geared to process the type of crude oil supplied by these countries.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reiterated on Tuesday its expectations for oil prices to decline both this year and next.
On its part, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projects robust demand growth in the world both this year and next.
In 2025, OPEC says demand is set to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day leaving its projection unchanged from the December report.
However, losses were also limited after the US president said his administration would “probably” stop buying oil from Venezuela. The U.S. is the second-biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil after China.
Also weighing on prices on Tuesday was the potential end to the shipping disruption in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.
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