BUA Group restates commitment to backward integration policy

appoints Mario de Matos to head agribusiness division

BUA Group, one of Nigeria’s largest foods and infrastructure conglomerate, has reaffirmed its commitment to consistently implement the Federal Government’s backward integration policy in the sugar industry through its sugar subsidiary, BUA Sugar.

This was made known in Lagos recently when the Group announced the appointment of Mario de Matos, a sugar expert, as head of its agribusiness division.

Until his appointment, Mario de Matos was the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) country representative in Nigeria, overseeing the USAID-funded APEx project that covered support to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development GES, agro-dealers training, small holders and private sector access to finance, gender and cross-cutting issues in 10 states across Nigeria.

In his comments, Kabiru Rabiu, group executive director, BUA Group, said “Mario’s appointment sends a clear message that BUA Group is a serious agribusiness player and is in line with the Group’s commitment to ensuring the effective implementation of the backward integration policy on sugar and the success of the government’s national agricultural development policy.

“Mario brings with him a deep and extensive knowledge of the sugar industry with substantial experience working across five continents in the past four decades. I look forward to working with him to build on our strong investments in sugar plantations within the country as well as explore other opportunities for growth within the agribusiness sector.”