Dangote's $250 Million Nigerian Sugar Investment to Create 23,000 Jobs

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the billionaire chairman of Nigeria's Dangote group of companies, is investing $250 million in a sugar factory project that will employ 23,000 people at peak season. This includes between 10,000, and 13,000 farmers are expected to be employed directly by the project to grow sugarcane.

The project will be sited by the Kaugama local government of the Jigawa state. It will cover 20,000 hectares and have a capacity to grow more than 150,000 tons of sugar annually.

"We are hoping to commence work in the factory this September, because production of sugar is a seasonal business and the season is quite short," Dangote said. "We also hope to include industries like a milk dairy factory and poultry farming.

"We are also going to pay compensations to the owners of the land, which we hope to use for the farming of sugarcane. We are only waiting for the state government to value the lands, then we will pay the farmers. Most of the beneficiaries will be among the 10,000 farmers to be engaged for farming sugarcane."

Dangote said that the intention was to use waste and by-products from the sugarcane processing to produce ethanol for vehicle fuel, fertilizers and animal feeds to provide economic activities through small and medium enterprises for the local population.

The group will generate 60 megawatts (MW) of electricity to supply power to company projects and the state. A hospital and primary and secondary schools will be established for group staff and the local community.

For related information, see August 20, 2013, article - Nigeria's Dangote Sugar Targets 1 Million-Ton Output by 2020.

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