BusinessDay 12 Apr 2018

14
BUSINESS DAY
COMPANIES & MARKETS
C002D5556
Thursday 12 April 2018
Dangote Flour Mills, others donate
N70m threshers to wheat farmers
BALA AUGIE
Dangote Flour
Mills and other
flour millers donated
50 units
of multi-crop
thresher machine worth N70
million to wheat farmers to underpin
Nigeria’s self-sufficiency
in wheat production.
Thabo Mabe, managing
director/chief executive director
of Dangote Flour Mills of
Nigeria, made the disclosure at
the presentation of the equipment
in Lagos.
Mabe said that the new
machine would help reduce
costs and improve yields, hence
increasing the amount of yields
farmers get per hectare of land.
He added that the yields would
go up and costs would come
down.
“We are working assiduously
to ensure that Nigeria
attains self-sufficiency in wheat
production. Our company has
bought about 3000 tonnes of
wheat from local farmers. We
need to make sure that we get
local wheat for bread spaghetti
and bread” said Mabe.
Thabo Mabe, chief executive officer, Dangote Flour Mills
The FMDQ OTC Securities
and Exchange,
on Tuesday listed the
first sovereign Federal
Government N100 billion Sukuk
bond aimed at tackling
infrastructure development on
its platform.
Patience Oniha, the Director-General,
Debt Management
Office (DMO) said at the listing
programme in Lagos.
She said the seven-year
bond at 16.47 per cent due by
2024, was packaged on behalf
of the government by DMO and
the Ministry of Finance.
Oniha said the bond was
issued to develop and enhance
quality of life and business activities
in the country.
“The DMO in pursuit of
its objectives to diversify the
sources of government funding
and deepen the domestic capital
market, successfully issued the
debut N100 billion seven-year
Sovereign Sukuk on Sept. 26,
2017.’’
She said the proceeds of the
issuance of the Sukuk would
be used to construct and rehabilitate
ear-marked roads across
the six geopolitical zones of the
country.
According to her, the purpose
of the Sukuk is to integrate
ethical investors into the domestic
securities market.
She said the bond was floated
to establish a benchmark
for pricing of Sukuk by other
domestic issuers and offer investors
the opportunity to earn
returns, while contributing to
the infrastructure development
John Coumantaros, the
Chairman, Flour Milling Association
of Nigeria (FMAN),
represented by Paul Gbededo,
Group Managing Director,
Flour Mills Nigeria Ltd., said
that the presentation was a
demonstration of the association’s
commitment to continuously
support wheat farmers
and Federal Government’s
agriculture promotion agenda.
“There is no gainsaying that
self-sufficiency in the production
of wheat in Nigeria will
have an unprecedented impact
on the Nigerian economy
through attainment of food
security, poverty reduction and
of course, save much needed
foreign exchange,” he said.
Coumantaros said that the
association signed an MoU
with Wheat Farmers Association
of Nigeria in 2016 to purchase
all available wheat grain
produced by farmers in line
with agreed quality parameters
and prevailing market prices.
“In 2017, FMAN fulfilled its
promise by purchasing over
2,400 metric tons of wheat
valued at N469 million.
“In 2018, even before the
start of harvest, we have purchased
over 1600 metric tons of
wheat valued at N237 million.
“FMAN established a N20
million Researches and Development
Grant to the Lake Chad
Research Institute to conduct
research into enhanced wheat
farming technology and modern
agronomy practices aimed
at improving wheat varieties
with good yield,” he said.
Coumantaros said that the
association would continue to
invest effort and resources on
initiatives that would improve
local supply chain.
He said that it would also
ensure access to quality wheat
at decent price and ensure that
bakers and confectioners were
not burdened.
Also, Rotimi Fadipe, a representative
of Honeywell Flour
Mills, said that the local production
of wheat had increased
to about one million metric
tons.
Fadipe said the association
expected double yields with
the equipment presented to
the farmers, adding that the
initiative would be sustained.
According to him, Kano,
Jigawa, Kebbi and Katsina
States will each receive eight
units of the multi-crop threshers,
while Sokoto, Bauchi, Kaduna
and Zamfara States will
receive four units each.
He said that the remaining
two units would be kept at the
national office of the wheat
farmers association for intervention
purposes.
In his remarks, Salim Mohammed,
the National President,
Wheat Farmers Association
of Nigeria, commended
the flour millers for their gesture
toward boosting wheat
production.
Mohammed said that the
equipment would be judiciously
utilised to boost wheat
production and reduce cost of
FMDQ lists FG’s N100bn sovereign Sukuk
bond for infrastructure development
of the country.
Oniha said the proceeds
were being deployed for the
construction and rehabilitation
of 25 key economic roads
projects across Nigeria’s six
geopolitical zones.
“The listing of the sovereign
Sukuk on FMDQ will
provide investors with the
much needed transparent
and efficient platform for
price determination and liquidity,”
she said.
Oniha said the Sukuk Bond
was an infrastructure bond, noting
that people that invested in
the bond, invested for the future.
She stated that the bond was
initiated to boost the financial
inclusion programme of the
government to reach out to the
unbanked people.
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