Abdul Samad Rabiu, Nigeria’s third-richest man and the visionary behind BUA Group, has secured another landmark industrial deal—this time with Swedish engineering giant Alfa Laval—to build a 1,000-ton-per-day palm oil refinery and fractionation plant in Nigeria.
The high-capacity facility, set to revolutionize palm oil processing in the country, is designed to slash reliance on imports, create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, and strengthen the foundation for sustainable agriculture and food manufacturing in West Africa’s largest economy.
The deal was inked by Rabiu himself, Founder and Executive Chairman of BUA Group, and Panjak Maheshwari, Vice President of Alfa Laval’s Food & Water Division—signaling elite-level confidence from both sides in Nigeria’s agro-industrial potential.
Strategic Move in BUA’s Billion-Dollar Manufacturing Surge
The palm oil refinery marks yet another bold expansion by Rabiu, whose industrial empire spans cement, food, infrastructure, packaging, and real estate. It follows the December 2024 commissioning of a 2,400-ton-per-day Plaster of Paris (P.O.P.) and plasterboard factory in Port Harcourt, and a state-of-the-art packaging facility built in partnership with Austria’s Starlinger & Co., capable of producing 600 million polypropylene bags annually.
Now, with this latest foray into palm oil, BUA Foods Plc—the group’s food powerhouse—is extending its dominance further into oil milling, adding to its robust portfolio in sugar refining, flour, pasta, and rice production.
Rabiu & Son: A Combined 94.25% Stake in BUA Foods
Together, Abdul Samad Rabiu and his son Isyaku Naziru Rabiu control a formidable 94.25% ownership in BUA Foods. Rabiu Sr. holds 92.63%, while Isyaku owns 1.62%, amounting to over 291 million shares. The company, now valued at $4.9 billion on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), is fast becoming one of the most formidable food manufacturing players in Africa.
BUA Foods Shatters Profit Records in 2024
In its 2024 full-year financial results, BUA Foods more than doubled its profit from N112.1 billion ($72.9 million) in 2023 to N266 billion ($173 million). Revenue surged 109%, jumping from N729.44 billion ($484.8 million) to a record N1.53 trillion ($1.02 billion).
Standout segments included:
• Flour: N544.88 billion ($362.2 million)
• Fortified Sugar: N567.39 billion ($377.1 million), up 67%
• Additional revenues from molasses, semolina, maize, pasta, wheat bran, and non-fortified sugar rounded off the billion-dollar mix.
Richlist Nigeria Commentary
As BUA Group pushes further into agro-processing and vertical integration, Rabiu is cementing his legacy not just as a billionaire, but as a key architect of Nigeria’s industrial revival. From sugar and cement to flour and now palm oil, the billionaire’s moves consistently prioritize scale, import substitution, and pan-African impact.
With each new venture, Abdul Samad Rabiu reinforces his position among Africa’s most strategic wealth builders—leveraging world-class partnerships, homegrown expertise, and a clear long-term vision for economic sovereignty through industrial might.
