The non-stop work at BUA’s Lafiagi Sugar Company
Economic history shows that countries transit from developing economies to strong and diversified entities by producing what they consume and consuming they produce.
This philosophy was the bedrock upon which Nigeria’s Federal Government initiated policies such as privatisation, backward integration and import substitution.
The drive to end the consumption of what Nigeria does not produce particularly drove the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) to sell moribund or problematic public industries to the private sector, who would naturally revive and make them profitable and virile again.
This move, which was rife during Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua regimes, brought about the sale of Lafiagi Sugar Company to BUA Group in 2008.
Lafiagi Sugar Company had been a joint venture between Mehta Group of India and the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Indian company had pulled out of the investment 23 years before the sale in 2008, owing to what insiders described as ‘technical issues’.
Ordinarily, one of the terms of agreement between the government and the buyers of its struggling businesses was that the latter must ensure steady investment that would enable the country achieve industrial objectives, including job creation, self-sufficiency, and competitiveness of the local manufacturing industry.
Between 2008 when BUA acquired the facility and now is eight years. Speculations recently went viral regarding BUA’s commitment to the Lafiagi Sugar and the Backward Integration Policy (BIP), which provided many incentives to local sugar investors.
Real Sector Watch took a trip to the Lafiagi Sugar last Thursday to see the true state of things.
On arrival, an enquiry was launched to determine the number of hectares of land acquired by BUA for sugar production. Our reporter discovered that BUA had acquired 15,000 hectares of land for the purpose of nursery, plantation and final sugar production. At one end were 67 hectares of land, which had been cleared, ploughed and harrowed, waiting to be planted. At another end were also 70 hectares that had been cleared. Nursery had been planted at some ends of the land.
There was also large-scale renovation going on at the factory, which included 100 prefabricated houses. People were seen working on the site. There were irrigation equipment, two giant-sized bulldozers, brand news excavators, tipper lorries and twelve tractors.
“We are expecting more to come in no time,” Yisaku Samuel, general manager, Lafiagi Sugar Company, told Real Sector Watch.
But our reporter was still unsatisfied. He wanted to know why BUA was yet to begin sugar refining or production eight years after.
“After the acquisition in 2008, there were court and community cases, which needed to be resolved,” Samuel explained.
”This place was finally handed over to us in late 2014 and you can see a lot of work going on. The fact is that there are stages in sugar production. You have to do the nursery and then you need to get the sugarcane plantation right,” he said.
“Even if you have all the resources, you cannot plant all your canes within a year. Plantation development has to go in line with factory development, otherwise your cane will be wasted. That is why we have to start with the factory first,” he further explained.
The managing director said there had been fewer that 400 hectares of land before BUA took over, stressing that acquiring 15,000 hectares within this period was not child’s play.
He said the company planned to put 12,000 hectares for sugarcane development, disclosing that the group had equally concluded plans to bring in some seedlings from a bio factory in Abuja.
“We are planning to plant between 100 and 150 hectares this year. Ideally sugarcane has a long gestation period. When you plant sugarcane, it does not mature till about 12 months,” he stated.
He pointed out that the company was employing a large number of staff, who would work in the value chain, starting from nursery plantation, down to harvesting and sugar production.
Mario De Matos is an expert in agrobusiness, who has worked in five to six continents in sugar plantations. He currently serves as group head of agro business for BUA in Nigeria.
Matos told Real Sector Watch that the group was targeting the production of two million tonnes of sugarcane, saying that the agro part of the investment could create over 12,000 jobs, while thousands of employment would be generated at factories and at an indirect level.
“We are developing a state-of-the-art enterprise with the best practices possible worldwide, a size that will have sustainability over the medium and long terms,” he said.
Matos said BUA would produce sugar with the best technologies, and already had a size that would enable it have canes at a continued and uninterrupted basis.
“This is not going to be a simple shoes factory or a small yoghurt factory, where you get your raw materials and then produce. It is a complex of operations that are managed with good coordination to ensure all activities are set up to deliver the targets we have,” he said.
“This is going to be achieved gradually. It will take four years to develop plantations and be able to produce enough canes that will enable us have production of sugar. By the time we get to this stage, the out growers’ canes will begin to flow to the mill,” he disclosed.
He said this had been achieved in Ivory Coast and Cameroon, wondering why it could not be replicated on Africa’s biggest economy.
The expert disclosed that when the sugar production finally began, Lafiagi community and Nigerians in general would enjoy the by-products of the plant.
“Sugar is the king of products. But there is also the bagasse, which we can use to generate power. Six hundred thousand tonnes of cane can produce 40 mega watts of electricity. We can also produce ethanol, which can serve as fuel. From bagasse you can get other chemicals. You can also do molasses, which is a cheap source of potassium fertilizer,” he added.
“Power generated this way will be used for the factory and the rest, about 15 mega watts, will go the national grid or community,” he stated.
He urged Nigerians to support BUA, as the company was an emerging sugar exporter.
Real Sector Watch took a trip to the palace of Sa’adu Kawu Haliru, the Emir of Lafiagi community.
“We are happy to have BUA here,” said Haliru, when asked how he felt about BUA.
“We had been asking God not to allow this sugar to be extinct and God in His mercies answered our call. When we heard that BUA was coming, we accepted them. We will support BUA and we are with you. Whatever rumour you are hearing is not true,” the traditional ruler stressed.
According to him, sugar was Lafiagi’s baby and would not be toyed with in the community, adding that measures had been put in place to ensure that Fulani herdsmen would not tamper with BUA’s sugar investment.
ODINAKA ANUDU