Following a re-acquisition exercise that saw a buy back of 65.7 per cent stake in Dangote Flour Mills, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has staked N10 billion to restructure the firm for profitability, as well as to align with the group’s investments strategy.
Besides, Dangote has unveiled plans to invest in the production of wheat, using the milling firm to drive the agenda, with a target of 900,000 metric tonnes every year.
Dangote also explained that his buy-back strategy is expected to save 3000 jobs that would have been lost due to lack of investments in the mill.
He had sold the company to South Africa’s Tiger Brands in 2012 for $200 million.
However, the South Africans, despite injection of millions of dollars, claimed not to have recovered their investments in the company, which they rebranded in the last quarter of 2015, with Dangote and three other directors resigning from the board.
Speaking at the commissioning of the plant in Kano at the weekend, Dangote assured stakeholders that the mill is back for production and will not be shut for any interest.
“I will like to assure you that we are back for good and we will never close this mill again. It has always been my desire to increase our investments in Kano. We are also looking forward to venturing into farming in the State where we can create a lot of jobs and I think this flour mill will help us achieve this feat in Kano.
“Kano is very strategic because most of our products, be it flour, sugar, pasta, enjoy a lot of patronage and support. I want to announce that we have successfully re-engineered Dangote Flour Mill so as to meet the emerging challenges in the market place and also to meet the ever changing demands of our esteemed and loyal consumers.
“We decided to make this investment in November when Tiger Branded Consumer Goods decided to leave the country and we do not want over 3000 jobs to be lost. You can imagine these 3000 people going back into the job market in Nigeria. So we decided to seek ways to assist to ensure that these jobs are secured by injecting fresh cash of about N10 billion into the business.
“Our return to Kano is actually a sign of good things to come and it is our hope that by this move, we will create thousands of employment in the State and not just in flour but other products.
“Very soon, we will start growing wheat in Kano and I want to assure our customers that we will continue to support them.”
Today.ng
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