By Uzoma Ekene
Just a few days ago, with the official re-launch of the BUA Rice by Nigeria Billionaire and Founder and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, where he placed his son Isyaku Abdulsamad Khalifa Rabiu, at the forefront of the business the naysayers and busybodies woke up to pen what I will call trash of a write up on social media and online blogs of how the Nigeria’s retail market has been clouded by controversy with the introduction and relaunching of the BUA Rice. They even went as far as speaking for fictitious critics that are nowhere to be found or not even in existence, but in their own imagination and feeble minds.
To boldly reply to them, starting from the first paragraph of the so-called report, they had said in their report that the relaunch raises questions over the strategic intent of the billionaire industrialist. But to demystify their weak minds, there are no sharp questions raised anywhere except for those who feel fidgety and at ease when they hear about the relaunch. So, the questions for them are these: why are they afraid, why is there an air of unease within them, are they afraid of competition, is their own produce or product inferior, or do they not want any competition with the hope that with the coming of the new BUA Rice, which is superb will knock out theirs out from the market, possibly theirs maybe of low quality, an answer only them can give or explain to the Nigerian consumers.
While the busybodies are becoming more afraid and fidgety and sponsoring write-ups over the official relaunch of the BUA –branded rice into the market, the move by BUA has been broadly hailed by consumers, especially with the persistent concerns over the rising food prices and food security.
The beauty of the return of BUA Rice to the grocery shelves and stores is that it is coming at a time when millions of Nigerians are struggling with inflation as well as the increasing cost of staple foods.
Even as those who cannot face competition are crying up and down through their write up within online blogs and social media, the consumers who understand and value what BUA did, as they have hailed Billionaire industrialist and Chairman of BUA Group, AbdulSamad Rabiu, intervention at the this peculiar time, warmly denoting to him as “Alaanu Mèkúnù”, a Yoruba expression that means “the benefactor of the poor” – in recognition of his efforts to make rice more cheap and increase access to indispensable food items.
What Does the Relaunch Of The BUA Rice Bring to the Nigerian Market
As it is, the relaunch of BUA Rice not only brings a fresh thrust into Nigeria’s highly competitive rice market but it is also the beginning of a new generation of headship within the Rabiu business realm.
Backed by a substantial amplification of the BUA’s rice production capacity and through its subsidiary BUA Foods Plc, the group has just commissioned a novel one-million-tonne-per-annum parboiling plant alongside its existing 200,000-tonne rice mill in Kano State.
With this expansion, the BUA rice relaunching into the Nigerian Market will be boosting the production of local rice processing capability and this will in turn reduce dependence on imported varieties, once more solidifying the Nigeria’s food security agenda.
A more rapid look at the timing of the Rice relaunch by BUA shows that it is not by chance but to help in meeting demands from the Nigerian consumers, everybody knows that Rice is the sole most eaten staple food in Nigeria, with an annual demand running into tens of millions of metric tonnes.
Abdulsamad Rabiu has been very, very outspoken about the role his company BUA has played in ensuring that local food prices are crashed. He did this by making sure that there are waivers for tariffs as well as key staple foods importation.
For instance, while speaking to journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in May 2025, he told the media that BUA had substantial quantities of rice, wheat, and maize under the Federal Government’s duty-free food import policy, and that these imports were used to crash the prices of these foods.
Part of the dividends of BUA import volumes that hit the market was seen in the crash of Rice, which was initially sold at N110, 000 per 50 kg bag, then to N60, 000.
Who Else Is Better To Head The Rice Relaunch Project If Not Isyaku Khalifa Rabiu
Not done with their fear and fidgety, the sponsors of the write-up also went ahead to make a mole out of nothing when they attacked Isyaku Khalifa Rabiu, the son of Abdulsamad Rabiu, where they brought up the issue of nepotism that doesn’t even arise. The question to the naysayers is this: when making one’s child a part of his business, an act of nepotism? Who is better suited to manage a business for someone if not his children?
Aside, their nattering is that he is not qualified enough, especially with his rich and intimidating profile and career.
To respond to their tattling, the appointment of Isyaku Khalifa Rabiu as Chief Officer of Global Procurement and Strategic Operations is a strategic one, as it indeed places him in direct care of the rice business’s operational rollout.
A peep into his profile shows that he is a graduate of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He has been centrally involved in the profitable re-entry of BUA Rice Mills, where he has since been supervising efforts that birthed the successful reintroduction of BUA-branded rice products into the Nigerian market.
At the moment, what he has done since being made Chief Officer of Global Procurement and Strategic Operations is indeed surprising. With his expertise, he has set up a 40-metric-tonne-per-hour animal feed mill and installed branded digital platforms to enhance discernibility into consumer behaviour, sales performance, and distribution across BUA Foods’ operations.
What BUA intends to achieve with the relaunch of the rebranded Rice
Key part of the process of relaunching BUA’s rice is to expand processing capability, where local partnerships would be reinforced, and market presence transformed.
In fact, with this newest resourcefulness of BUA, industry watchers see it as one of the most major private-sector involvements in Nigeria’s food value chain in recent times.
To cap it up, the plan of BUA on this rice relaunch is affixed on local sourcing, where the company is applying a massive smallholder farmer programme intended to support more than 100,000 smallholder rice farmers across Kano and Jigawa State.
With the above arrangement, BUA buys rice fields straight from participating farmers, thereby forming a constant market for domestic producers, and it will also ensure that a dependable local supply chain for its milling operations.
Meanwhile, industry experts and specialists agree that the comeback of BUA Rice would bring about healthy competition in Nigeria’s rice market; it would also challenge the supremacy of imported brands and, in turn, add to price stability at this point in time when food affordability remains a tough national issue.
On the issue of the Okpella, Edo State, concerning BUA Cement’s scholarship programme that involves the Ukhomuyio Concerned Citizens group, the writer expressed in its write-up a second part of the article, the reply for it will be done in a different article at the right time.
