TheCable

Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, has waded into the dispute between Dangote and BUA.

The two companies are owned by Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu, two business moguls from the state.

In a statement on Thursday, Abba Anwar, the governor’s chief press secretary, said the reconciliation meeting took place in Abuja, on Wednesday.

In a joint letter to the minister of industry, trade and investment, Dangote Industries Limited and Flour Mills of Nigeria had claimed 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.”

In the statement, Anwar said 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).