BUA Foods has begun the largest expansion in its history, spanning flour milling, sugar refining, edible oils, animal feed and a first entry into instant noodles. Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu set out the programme to journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja, confirming an oil milling facility in Port Harcourt alongside a feed mill and a noodles manufacturing plant, and saying "BUA Foods is going to be the largest foods business in Nigeria" once the projects complete next year. The remarks were reported by The Nation.
The Projects Under Construction
According to The Guardian, the expansion covers flour milling, sugar refining and domestic sugar production under the company's backward integration programme, in addition to the new edible oil, feed and noodles investments. Legit.ng reported that Rabiu made the disclosure on Wednesday, 15 July 2026, and that the projects are scheduled for completion in 2027.
A Record Dividend Behind the Capital Spending
Billionaires Africa reported that shareholders endorsed a final dividend of ₦28 per ordinary share, roughly ₦504 billion in total, at the company's fifth annual general meeting at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, a 115 per cent increase on the ₦13 per share paid for 2024. The same report placed the expansion in competitive terms: the move into wheat milling and noodles puts BUA into more direct contest with Flour Mills of Nigeria and Dangote's food businesses, while the edible oils build-out deepens its position in a segment carrying heavy domestic demand and significant imported input exposure.
The Claim That Scale Lowers Prices
The affordability argument is the company's own, and it rests on an assumption that added domestic capacity translates into competitive pricing rather than higher margins. BUA has framed expanded domestic production as the most sustainable route to improving availability and stabilising prices, and says the Port Harcourt oil mill is intended to reduce dependence on imported products. Whether that materialises depends on factors outside the company's control, including naira stability, energy costs, and the price of imported crude vegetable oil and wheat.
What to Watch
Noodles, flour, pasta and cooking oil are among the most price-sensitive packaged goods in Lagos households, and any new capacity entering those categories changes competitive dynamics well before it changes shelf prices. Construction timelines in Nigerian food processing also slip regularly, so 2027 is a target rather than a delivery date.
FoodPrices Nigeria tracks cooking oil, flour and other packaged staples across Lagos markets, and will report whether the arrival of new domestic capacity registers at the shelf rather than only in company statements.