Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has appointed Mr. Arnold Ekpe as its new Chairman, effective June 16, 2025, following the Retirement of Alhaji Aliko Dangote (GCON) after nearly 20 years of service.
The announcement was disclosed in a corporate filing dated June 11, 2025.
The company’s Board stated that Ekpe’s selection came after a rigorous process to identify a leader capable of continuing the legacy left by Dangote.
They cited Ekpe’s depth of experience in both engineering and finance as key to his appointment and expressed confidence in his ability to steer the company through its next phase.
Mr. Arnold Ekpe, born in August 1953 in Nigeria, is a seasoned finance executive with over three decades of experience across banking and corporate sectors.
He attended King’s College, Lagos, graduating in 1972 before earning a First Class Honours degree in Engineering from the University of Manchester as a Shell Scholar between 1973 and 1976.
He later obtained an MBA from Manchester Business School between 1977 and 1979.
He began his career in 1977 with Schlumberger SA as a Wireline Logging Engineer, before joining Alcan Aluminium Nigeria in 1979 as Executive Assistant to the CEO, managing purchasing and labour relations.
Entering the banking sector in the early 1980s, Ekpe started at International Merchant Bank as Head of Strategy and later led IMB Securities, the investment and stockbroking division, as General Manager from 1980 to 1986.
He also held roles at City Securities Limited and Citibank Nigeria before eventually becoming Group CEO of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, where he served until his retirement in 2012.
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He joined Dangote Sugar’s Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director in 2024.
“As he steps into his new role, Mr. Ekpe will face a challenging financial landscape.”
Dangote Sugar posted unaudited Q1 2025 revenue of ₦213.93 billion, a 74.31% year-on-year increase.
However, elevated raw material costs pressured margins.
The company’s cost of sales accounted for 95.67% of revenue, leaving limited room for other expenses.
This resulted in a pre-tax loss of ₦22.63 billion, though this was an improvement from the ₦106.86 billion loss in Q1 2024, helped by reduced net finance costs.
The company’s total assets stood at ₦1.045 trillion at the end of Q1 2025, nearly unchanged from December 2024.
However, liabilities continued to weigh heavily on the balance sheet, representing over 81% of total assets.
Borrowings rose to ₦727.29 billion in Q1 2025 from ₦481.78 billion a year earlier, a 50.98% increase.
Despite these pressures, signs of easing macroeconomic conditions are emerging.
According to Nairametrics, Nigerian consumer goods companies are benefiting from reduced foreign exchange losses, which dropped 98% year-on-year in Q1 2025, from ₦1.17 trillion to ₦22.2 billion.
With FX costs declining, efforts to lower cost of sales could now deliver stronger profitability gains.
In addition, falling global sugar prices, driven by favorable weather in Brazil, the source of 96% of Nigeria’s raw sugar imports, have begun to support local sugar processors, including Dangote Sugar.
These imports are refined in the country’s three major plants operated by Dangote, BUA, and Golden Penny.
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