Dangote Sugar Refinery
By Victory Oghene
Some aggrieved group of people which included the elderly, youths, women, and children on Tuesday embarked on a peaceful protest against the expansion of the Dangote Sugar Refinery situated along Yola-Gombe Road to demand a stop to Dangote’s planned expansion of its sugarcane farm.
The protesters, drawn from the Kola, Dumna, and Zakawon districts in the Guyuk Local Government Area, accused the company of land grabbing and vowed to resist the expansion at all costs.
The protesters
Brandishing placards with various inscriptions, the visibly distressed farming communities emphasised that their only means of livelihood was being threatened by the expansion plan.
The leader of the protesters, David Time, cautioned that seizing their farmlands would worsen the area’s already fragile peace.
Time further criticized the Sugar Refinery for neglecting its corporate social responsibility to the communities.
According to him, the company has not constructed a single medical facility or a block of classrooms, let alone provided water or roads.
To prevent the impending crisis, he fervently urged President Bola Tinubu and Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of the state to intervene and stop Dangote from encroaching on their farmlands.
“Where will our teeming farmers go if the Dangote Sugar Refinery takes over that small portion of our farmlands? What will become of our youths if Dangote takes over our farms?
“The youths are crying and appealing to the president and Governor Ahmadu Fintiri to intervene on this onslaught of making us slaves on our land.
“Farming is the only means of our livelihood. Our farms are our only livelihood tickets for sustainability. The youths are resolute – we reject in totality any expansion move by the Dangote Suger Refinery,” Tima said.
Efforts to make Mr. Anthony Chiejina, Group Head of Corporate Communications Dangote Group comment on the development literally met a brickwall as he was yet to respond as at the time of filling this report
