By Nudoiba Ojen
The President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has said that that the Dangote Foods Group will produce 1m tonnes of rice in 2025.
Dangote said that the development is expected to create a lot of jobs and take many youths away from the unemployment market.
He spoke at the Dangote Cement Distributor’s award night for the year 2023, tagged: ‘Forward together,’ where he also spoke of plans to consolidate Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Salt and Dangote Rice into Dangote Foods.
He said, “The consolidation is a strategy to harness the benefits of backward integration via linkages and build a more formidable food subsidiary. By the year 2025, the group will be producing a million tons of rice that are expected to create thousands of jobs”.
A ton of rice is equivalent to 20 (50kg) bags of rice.
Dangote assured Nigerians of continuous research and improvement in the production processes to deliver the best quality products in the market.
He said: “We are celebrating an enduring partnership that has elevated us to become Africa’s largest cement company; a partnership that is aptly captured by the theme of today’s event. This partnership has seen us toil shoulder-to-shoulder to overcome various obstacles in the cement sector and deliver value for all stakeholders.
“We are renewing and strengthening the trust you reposed in us by remaining true to Dangote Cement. We are deepening this relationship as we continue the ‘forward together journey to retain and extend our lead in the domestic market.
“Our refinery has kicked off the refining of crude oil with Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and JETA1 fuel as initial products.
“We expect gasoline and polypropylene by the end of March. We believe that Nigeria’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products will be eliminated very soon.
“We trust that our refinery will largely transform Nigeria’s economy, create more linkages, and ensure the evolution of ancillary industries dependent on its byproducts. We are hopeful that more jobs will be created, therefore reducing the level of youth unemployment and improving livelihoods.”
The Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement, Mr Arvind Pathak, commended the customers for their support to the success of the business.
