Africa’s richest man and CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has explained why his company decided to sell off its flour mill in Nigeria in 2019.
Dangote made this disclosure to newsmen on Saturday in Lagos.
According to the businessman, the flour mill encouraged heavy importation of wheat into the country, an approach that does not align with the core values of the Dangote Group.
Dangote stated that his company operates to add value to every part of Nigeria’s economy, adding that the importation of wheat only creates jobs for the countries where the wheat is produced.
He said that while his flour mill was the second leading mill in Nigeria, he had to sell it off to stop heavy importation into the country.
“Whatever we do at Dangote, we have value. We are not packaging plants. If you look at all our operations at Dangote, we actually add value.
“We take local raw materials and turn them into products and we sell, which means it’s a circular economy. Everything is here in Nigeria.
“It’s the same reason why we are number two in flour mill, but we sold it because the wheat is being imported from abroad so the more wheat we used, the more jobs we create out there. That’s why we cancelled that.
“We remain only in sugar. Salt is not really a very big business. That’s what we’ve done,” Dangote said.
In January 2019, the shareholders of Dangote Flour Mills Plc unanimously approved the acquisition of the company by Crown Flour Mills Limited, the Nigerian subsidiary of Olam International Limited.
The shareholders gave their approval after Olam made a payment of N120 billion.
The acquisition was carried out through a Scheme of Arrangement.
Dangote Flour Mills started operation in 1999 as a division of Dangote Industries Ltd. It had mills across Nigeria, including in Apapa, Ikorodu, Ilorin, Kano and Calabar.
It mills, processes and markets branded flour and offers downstream value-added products through subsidiary companies, including Dangote Pasta Ltd.
There has been a recent exchange between Dangote and the Nigerian government.
The government has accused Dangote of attempting to monopolize the energy sector. In response, Dangote has stated that he has no such intentions.
Dangote emphasized that his company only engages in businesses that promote the value chain of Nigeria’s economy and does not rely on heavy importation.
Due to a lack of industrialization, Nigeria continues to rely on imported goods as finished products while exporting its natural resources, such as oil and gas, to other countries.
This creates an imbalance in the value chain.
Dangote described this situation as “importing prosperity while exporting poverty.”
