Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu: Founder, BUA Group of Companies

By Danlami Nasir Isa

Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu (CON), was born on 4th August, 1960 in the ancient city of Kano, Nigeria. His late father, Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu, was one of Nigeria’s foremost industrialists in the 1970s and 1980s. Abdul Samad is the founder and chairman of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate concentrating on manufacturing, infrastructure, agriculture, and of recent, oil and gas.

He started his early education in Kano and later attended Capital University in Columbus, Ohio and returned to Nigeria at the age of 24 to oversee his father’s business.

Abdul Samad Rabiu’s career in business can be traced back to when he established BUA International Limited in 1988 for the sole purpose of commodity trading. BUA Group, a conglomerate concentrating on manufacturing, infrastructure, and agriculture and producing revenue in excess of $2.5 billion annually.

His major business breakthrough came in 1990, when government-owned Delta Steel Company, contracted (BUA) to supply its raw materials in exchange for finished iron products. Later that year, BUA through Rabiu, expanded further into steel, producing billets, importing iron ore, and constructing multiple rolling mills in Nigeria.

After enjoying a successful take-off in business, Rabiu took an audacious business decision by acquiring Nigerian Oil Mills Limited, the largest edible oil processing company in the country. In 2005, BUA started two flour-milling plants in Lagos and Kano. By 2008, BUA had broken an eight-year monopoly enjoyed by rival Dangote in the Nigerian sugar industry by commissioning the second largest sugar refinery in sub-Saharan Africa. Subsidiaries of the conglomerate include BUA Sugar Refinery, BUA Oil Mills, BUA Ports & Terminals, BUA Cement, BUA Estate, among others.

Abdul Samad Rabiu is a philanthropist. Helping the society can be described as his hobby. That could be seen as the reason he set up BUA Foundation for his philanthropic activities. Some of the life touching projects executed by his Foundation include the construction of a 7,000-square-meter paediatric ward at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the construction of the Centre for Islamic Studies at Bayero University Kano amongst several others.

On July 7, 2020, Forbes estimated Abdul Samad’s wealth at $3.1 billion, putting him among top world billionaires. Due to his wide knowledge of finance, business, and corporate governance, he was appointed the Chairman of the Nigerian Bank of Industry (BOI).

Abdul Samad Rabui’s philanthropic tendencies came to the fore when he donated a whopping sum of ten billion Naira at the peak of COVID-19, to strengthen national response to the pandemic in Nigeria.

The industrialist and founder of BUA Group, also placed an order for an additional donation of equipment and medical supplies including testing kits and medical protective gear to 9 states in Nigeria.

Speaking on the donation, Mr Rabiu said it was very important for the private sector to support the government’s effort to curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The BUA Group also signed France’s Axens for new refinery project in Akwa Ibom State. The new project will go head-to-head with Nigeria’s other large scale refinery project, being built by the Dangote Group.

For Rabiu, the economics of the project are a ‘no-brainer’: “Nigeria imports 90% of it’s petroleum products. We spend 35% of our foreign exchange on importing petroleum products.” The new refinery, with a capacity to produce 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), should be operational in 2024. By comparison, the Dangote Group project will produce 650,000 bpd.

The project is sited on the waterfront in Akwa Ibom State. “We will have the marine infrastructure for easy export”, says Rabiu, “And the external market for polypropylene [the other major product from the refinery] is very strong”.

Abdul Samad Rabiu, a well respected philanthropist is married with children.