The Chairman,
They argued that the country currently had enough refining capacity to meet national demand.
In a joint petition to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr.
However, in the ensuing row among the major players in the industry, Chairman,
Adebayo, Thursday, confirmed the rancour among the operators, while reacting to THISDAY enquiry.
But he declined further comments on the matter which is already in court.
The minister said:"Unfortunately I'm unable to comment as the matter is already sub judice. Thank you very much for your understanding."
However, in the letter to the minister, Dangote and his counterpart in Flour Millis, argued that they had in 2019, warned about the risk of establishing a new refinery, adding that they got assurances that in line with the federal government's policy on Backward Integration Programme (BIP), "no new refinery will be allowed to operate in
They also pointed out that a tremendous amount of work was required by all stakeholders to achieve the intended objective behind the sugar policy, which is to among other things, encourage backward integration to ultimately attain self-sufficiency in local sugar production.
The petitioners stated that with the new refinery, the country's refining capacity had increased to 3.4 million metric tons per annum from 2.75 million metric tons per annum.
The petitioners further demanded for a level-playing field that provides fair competition in the local sugar market in order for the country to realise the sugar master plan.
They specifically urged Adebayo, to prevail on the
Among other recommendations, they said no allocations should be issued or applications considered for quota intended for re-export of sugar as this would be difficult to monitor and may be open to abuse.
The petitioners added that, "An investigation should be conducted to determine the quantity of raw sugar imported by the refinery in Port Harcourt and the appropriate penalty in terms of duty (60 per cent) and levy (10 per cent) be levied on the company".
It added that the customs should be mandated to comply strictly with the authorised quota allocations in clearing cargoes and administering levy and duty and that the CBN be requested to monitor the registration of "Form Ms" in line with the quota allocation.
They recalled that under the revised guidelines released by the
The petitioners alleged that the midterm assessment conducted by the
"Even before its surreptitious investment in additional refining capacity,
The petitioners maintained that the business logic behind the investment in new refinery was clearly defective adding that, "BUA intend only on importing and refining raw sugar whilst claiming to be investing in developing sugar plantations in order to qualify for quotas to import raw sugar".
They further alleged that the
"We are particularly surprised by the brazenness as we believe that the choice of location and the publicity campaign behind the investment has been deliberately engineered to provoke public sentiment and pit the federal government against its people," the petition added.
It said unless the ministry of industry, trade and investment plays an effective policing role of the NSMP, the country's dream of becoming self-sufficient and indeed a net expoter of sugar would be defeated.
"The impunity with which BUA has contravened the provisions of the NSMP has placed the other players who are abiding by the regulations, not only at a significant disadvantage but has discouraged them from undertaking the huge investments that would deliver the desired objective of 100 per cent local production of sugar, unless, of course, the ministry wades in and addresses the situation," it added.
Consequently, in a letter issued by Adebayo, dated
BUA, in its reaction to the minister, dated
The company pointed out in its five-page response, that it was unreasonable for it to be working against the backward integration policy of the industry, having invested billions of naira in the initiative which is almost nearing completion.
Rabiu, specifically assured that its sugar export focused project in Port Harcourt, will not affect in any way, the backward integration programme adding that "the only way it will affect Nigerians is that Nigerians will pay lower prices for sugar".
He explained that though the
Act and current approvals/rules to intervene locally in order to stabilise sugar price, "where it is absolutely necessary- in the face of arbitrary price increases and collusion to force scarcity of the product locally".
He said:"The same NEPZA Act upon which this project is based, gives the permission to process, add value, and export at the same time. Companies under this act are allowed to process and if they so wish, sell 100 per cent of their production in
"As a matter of fact,
He added:"What BUA sugar is doing is legal and within the confines of the law. We have not done nor are we doing anything wrong."
Rabiu, further explained that the EPZ under which its Port Harcourt sugar project is sited went through a rigorous two-year review process before being forwarded to the ministry for approval of President
According to the
He said BUA's Lafiagi BIP is on track to be completed by the end of the year as well as commence production by the end of 2022.
Rabiu, also warned that any action that tampers with the current approval is capable of eroding investors confidence under the EPZ.
He disclosed that the company had spent over
He said:"To try to shut it down or stifle its operations will cost jobs and lost economic impact."
He added that BUA remained the only company of the three dorminant players, spending serious money and seeking to complete its BIP project by 2022, stressing that," we need to start asking firm, hard questions of the two other players".
The letter, however, urged the minister to remain firm and resolute in the discharge of his duties as he had always done adding that BUA remained committed to its obligations regarding the BIP and the NSMP,. He ssid "we believe that time has come to call all players to true account".
Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source