Yusuf Bello| Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has wadded into the rift between Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, and Abdussamad Isyaka Rabi’u, Chairman of BUA Group.
Ganduje hosted the two gladiators from Kano at the Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Abba Anwar, the governor’s chief press secretary, in a statement confirmed the reconciliation meeting took place in Abuja.
According to Anwar, the meeting was held to end claims that the duo was in dispute over sugar business control in the country.
He said after the meeting, the leader of the two companies agreed to work together to supply enough sugar in the country.
“They all dismissed allegations that Dangote was planning to see the increase of sugar price, thereby pressurising BUA to succumb to the increment. They described the allegation as baseless and lacking any iota of truth,” he said.
“The meeting was seen as the zenith of other similar efforts to reconcile the two giants by the governor. Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata played the role of a father during the meeting.”
Present at the meeting were Niyi Adebayo, the minister for commerce, trade, and investment; Aminu Dan-Agundi, a representative of the Kano emirate; Muhammad Nasir-Adam, chairman of the council of Kano imams; and Adamu Panda, chairman of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).
The rift between the two men followed a joint letter to the minister of industry, trade, and investment, Dangote Industries Limited and Flour Mills of Nigeria claiming that BUA’s sugar refinery poses a threat to the Nigerian local sugar industry.
They also alleged that the sugar refinery undermines the national sugar master plan (NSMP), a policy road map for sugar production.
But BUA fired back saying Dangote and John Coumantaros, chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria, are calling to question the “authority of the president’s power and the diligence of the trade ministry.”
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