By Ismail Auwal
The feud between two of Nigeria’s richest men, Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu, has taken a new turn as Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc responded to BUA Foods Plc’s allegations.
From the cement struggle to the sugar price-fixing allegations, Aliko Dangote and Abdulsamad Rabiu have been at war over market supremacy.
Dangote accused the BUA Foods PLC of sponsoring media reports alleging that Dangote Sugar has suspended the sale of Sugar in a bid to create artificial scarcity, force prices to artificially go up, profiteer even more, and blackmail the government to review the denial of allocations to another competitor due to compliance issues.
Dangote Sugar Refinery has responded, disputing and calling the charges untrue.
The company added that such allegations have the potential to mislead the market and offer BUA Foods Plc an unfair competitive advantage.
BUA Foods Plc previously issued a statement claiming that the firm has distanced itself from any agreement to create an artificial shortage of sugar in the country as a result of the decision of two large sugar producers to cease sales.
The statement reads, “We have been inundated with calls from our customers that Dangote Sugar and Flour Mills have both suspended sales of Sugar, seeking to know if BUA will follow suit. We would like to reassure our customers that BUA is not joining the suspension of sales of sugar”.
The company also expressed the belief that the allegations by BUA Foods Plc is not only worrisome but appears to conflict with the anti-competition rules.
“Last year, just before the commencement of the Ramadan (the Islamic holy month of fasting), BUA made similar false allegations against the Company that it was engaged in ‘price-fixing’ and not honestly pursuing the Backward Integration Project”.
Hence, the company says it is refuting the false allegations and has also made formal complaints to the Anti-Competition Commission and awaits actions by the commission to address the situation.
Dangote Sugar added that its sugar supply will continue to meet the market’s demand and has also made the necessary supply chain and logistics investments/arrangements to ensure there are no risks to its ability to meet the current market demands.
According to the disclosure, “Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc. remains the highest Sugar supplier in the market today, with over 1.44m MT installed capacity at our Apapa Refinery and we are the only company producing sugar from own grown sugarcane under the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) at the Numan operations in Yola, Adamawa State. We remain committed to fair play and good governance and would continue to supply Sugar to the market without interruptions”.
