TheCable

Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, says his company wants the government to make it mandatory for companies to fortify all rice products consumed in the country.

The multibillionaire said Nigerians eat rice in the morning, afternoon and night, adding that fortifying rice with the right vitamins would help combat malnutrition.

Dangote said this is part of the move to combat malnutrition in Nigeria, a nation with more than two million malnourished children.

“At the Aliko Dangote Foundation, we have what we call the nutrition Integrated Programme, of which we are trying to make sure we take out two million children from malnutrition,” Dangote said at the Goalkeepers Summit.

“Right now, Dangote is also in the process of rice milling, we are setting up about one million tonnes of rice, and all our rice will apply these nutritious vitamins.

“The main food we eat in Nigeria is rice; people eat rice in the morning, they eat rice in the afternoon, they eat rice at night.

“With this, we are now trying to introduce this, and also we are going to the government to make it mandatory for all the rice we consume in Nigeria to be fortified. This will help quite a lot.”

Speaking at the fourth Goalkeepers Summit in New York on Wednesday, Dangote also said his company, Dangote Group, was the very first company in Africa to begin fortification of sugar.

He added that this has become the reality for virtually all the sugar-producing companies in the country.

The Dangote Foundation revealed that about two million children are malnourished in Nigeria — a trend the foundation is working to bring to zero.

He appreciated the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for bringing companies in Nigeria together to sign up to fortification of food products to battle malnutrition.