Dino Melaye, a disgrace to the Senate - Tinubu

22—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2016
Unsold finished products fuel salary cuts,
retrenchments in firms
By Franklin Alli
SOME manufacturing
companies in the country
have started applying
Hobson’s choice of “Take it
or leave it “ by reviewing the
salaries of their staff downward
instead of retrenching
them.
They are blaming high unsold
finished products in the
markets and their warehouses
which they attributed
to falling purchasing power of
average Nigerians and stiff
competition from foreign
brands as well as smuggling.
Investigation by Vanguard
revealed that companies in
pharmaceutical sector, food
and beverage including flour
mills have started using this
rule to compel their staff to
either accept salary cut and
remain on their payroll, or
resign their appointments.
Vanguard further learned
that pharmaceutical company
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer
Nigeria Plc in Agbara , Ogun
state, recently laid off 55 of
its workforce, due to high
level of unsold products .
Likewise, a Flour Milling
company in Apapa has also
reviewed downward the
wages of workers who are
earning N90,000 to
N40,000and and urged
those who can not accept the
offer to quit.
One of the affected staff, who
does not want his name in
print, told Vanguard that as
a result of this development,
workers that are earning
N200,000 and above are jittery
adding that some of them
have resigned their appointments
before the axe fall on
them. According to Manufacturers
Association of Nigeria,
MAN, the apex body of all
manufacturers in the country,
the sector in recent years,
is challenged by persistent
weak micro-macroeconomic
fundamentals and lower pur-
Lafiagi Sugar mill, refinery & ethanol plant to gulp N85bn
AWARD: Chief Eric Umeofia, CEO, Erisco Foods Ltd/ Recipient of the Zik Prize in Business
Leadership (middle); his wife, Nmachukwu Umeofia (2nd right); Governor Willie Obiano
of Anambra State (left); Governor lbikunle Amosu of Ogun State (right) and Ooni of lle-Ife,
Adeyeye Ogunwusi during the Zik awards, in Lagos.
The Flour Mills
industry, which is
worth N100 billion,
the market is highly
price sensitive as
consumers can
hardly tolerate a
minute price
increase without
corresponding
value addition
By Demola Akinyemi
BUA Group is making
a total investment of N85
billion) in Lafiagi Sugar Company
(LASUCO) to cover the
sugar mill, its refinery, the ethanol
and power plant as well as
the complete agricultural aspects
of the project.
The project is located at Edu
local government area of kwara
state.
The group executive director
of BUA group, Alh Kabiru Rabiu
disclosed this during the flag off
of a 500 hectares sugar cane
nursery plantation at the Lafiagi
Sugar Company.
According to him, “Our
planned 500 hectares nursery
development is unprecedented
in the history of Nigerian Sugar
Industry. And with the achievement
of this important milestone,
we intend to break yet
another record by replanting
over 3,000 hectares of land next
year.”
He also noted that as part of
the group’s strategic plans to
ensure local sugar production
and reduce the importation of
raw sugar, BUA Group acquired
Lafiagi Sugar Company in 2008
through the Federal Government
Privatisation exercise.
Alh Rabiu stressed that although
the acquisition predated
the establishment of the Nigerian
Sugar Master plan,
LASUCO has become an integral
part of effective implementation
of the Federal
Government’s Policy on Sugar
Backward Integration program.
He said the Lafiagi Sugar
Company is expected to employ
at least 3,000 workers directly
during the peak season of operation,
while indirect employment
is certain to reach up to
10,000 people.
He stressed that BUA will establish
a fully integrated sugar
factory and refinery with a capacity
to crush nearly 7,000 tons
of sugar cane per day.
He also said that within the
two estates, “we will grow over
1.2 million tons of sugar cane per
annum, which will be processed
to produce over 140,000 tons of
pure refined sugar.
He further disclosed that the
plant will generate about 35 MW
of electricity using bagasse as
feedstock. Part of this will be used
to power the factory, while the
excess will be sold to the distribution
company to help improve
the public power supply in the
State.
He said,” When fully operational,
LASUCO will also produce
over 25 million liters of
ethanol. In line with today’s global
trend, we expect this ethanol
output to contribute toward
Nigeria’s transition to a more
eco-friendly energy mix, especially
as hybrid vehicles become
increasingly popular on our
roads. Of course this will go a
long way in relieving Nigeria’s
over dependence on imported
petroleum products in the coming
years.”
He added that,the acquisition and
reactivation of the Lafiagi Sugar
Company was important to both
BUA Group and the general sugar
industry for various reasons:
According to him, “Firstly,
LASUCO has one of the best land
available for sugar cane production
because of its flatness, soil fertility,
proximity to river Niger and
favourable climatic conditions that
are conducive for sugar cane production,
“Secondly, the company is strategically
located to serve both the
Northern and Southern markets of
the country. Being located in Kwara
State, LASUCO will also enjoy easy
logistics to deliver products across
all markets.”
chasing power of consumers.
MAN said that all of these
to a large extent have contributed
to the untimely closure
of peripheral manufacturers
with their market share
taken up by market controllers,
new entrants, importers and
smugglers.
MAN noted that the Flour
Mills industry which is worth
N100 billion, the market is
highly price sensitive as consumers
can hardly tolerate a
minute price increase without
corresponding value addition.
He described Kwara State as the
birthplace of Nigeria’s sugar industry
as it is home to Nigeria’s pioneer
sugar company in Bacita; and
as an offshoot of Bacita, he said
LASUCO enjoys access to highly
skilled manpower on sugar cane
production and processing by virtue
of its proximity to Bacita.
He however noted that Lafiagi
Sugar Company has a historic land
bank of about 16,000 hectares, out
of which, just over 10,000 hectares
is best suited for sugar cane production.
Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed expressed
optimism that the development
would positively
revolutionalise the economy of the
state and Nigeria in general
He stressed that it would create
wealth and massive gainful employment
for the youths in the community
and the state in general because
of the nature of the production.
He also urged other investors to
come to kwara state and explore the
maximum advantage of abundant
lands,perfect nature and the attractive
needed infrastructures aside
being the gate way of the southern
and northern part of Nigeria to establish
their industries.
Entrepreneur
seeks revival of
moribund mud
brick factories
AJOURNALIST and en
trepreneur, Ayodele
Samuel Ayo-Oloye has called
on the Federal Government to
revive moribund mud brick factories
across the country to reduce
cost of building materials
and create jobs.
Ayo-Oloye who is the Chief
Executive of Farm Plus Foods
Solution Center, said “We must
begin to look inward in solving
mirage of problems facing this
country including reducing
housing deficits.
“Am currently carrying out a
research on using latrite mud
for building houses, they are
new technologies and improved
models of constructing mud
houses.
“ Till date building with mud
remains the cheapest, phasing
it out will be suffocating lives out
of rural dwellers and low income
earners in the country,” Ayo-
Oloye said.
He added that many countries
in the West Africa sub region
have been able to meet their
housing needs through effective
use of laterite mud.
“Laterite soil, the main material
used in making mud bricks,
is often cheaply found in any
part of Nigeria. Houses built
with laterite soil are durable, aesthetically
pleasant, cool in hot
weather and warm in cold
weather. And the production
technique is easy to learn.”
He noted that his company is
at the verge of launching a
mud estate project to reduce
housing deficit in the country by
40 per cent.
Young
entrepreneurs to
learn from
industry experts
By Naomi Uzor
YOUTHPRENEUR Busi
ness Summit has said that
it is bringing over 700 young
entrepreneurs to learn from industry
experts at its forthcoming
summit in Lagos.
According to the Convener,
Mrs. Abimbola Oligbinde, the
theme of the summit, ‘‘Passion
to Wealth: Road to Economic
Diversification” was chosen to
underscore the need for urgent
diversification of the nation’s
economy, beyond lip-service
and that the project, which aims
to enhance enterprise development
in Nigeria, will run for ten
years.
“The summit will create a platform
for young entrepreneurs to
also learn from industry experts
and successful but young entrepreneurs.
It will also create a
platform for networking and
business-to-business partnerships.
We hope to impact 20,000
businesses through mentoring,
partnerships, capacity development
and funding. Womenowned
businesses would get 55
per cent of the funding.
“The focus of this competition
is for young entrepreneurs to
share their ideas with angel investors.
C
M
Y
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