Amid Covid-19 Job Uncertainty, Sunti Golden Sugar Estates To Retain All Staff For Full Operations

Amid the ravaging Coronavirus pandemic and the attendant job losses and salary cuts, the Sunti Golden Sugar Company, operators of the Sunti Golden Sugar Estates has said that it is retaining all its 2,400 employees to keep the facility at full operation.

The Sunti Golden Sugar Estates has also made a distribution of palliative food supplies to its host community, Mokwa Local Government, as it creates a strategic food reserve for its own employees.

 The Golden Sugar company, which is a subsidiary of the Flour Mills of Nigeria Group (FMN) had employed strategic measures initiated by the FMN Group to ensure the safety and welfare of employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders.

According to the Director, Corporate and Legal services, Joseph Umolu, the new health and safety strategy was part of the general measures being deployed by the FMN Group to keep all its facilities, including the Sunti Golden Sugar Estate safe from the Covid-19 virus. He stressed that before the pandemic, the Sunti Golden Sugar Estates already had strict health and safety measures in place, therefore all it needed to do was to upscale the measures to comply with recommended Covid-19 safety protocols.

“Proper safety measures have been put in place across the facility, including hand wash points, soaps and sanitisers at each operational entry point.

“Sunti already operates under the highest health and safety standards even before the Coronavirus lockdown policy by the Federal Government.

“To help employees deal with the growing pressure of working during the current period, Sunti Golden Sugar Estates has issued palliative food products to all its employees as well as created a strategic food reserve for employees, should the disease persist and conditions become tougher.”

He added that despite the restricted movement, the estate being in the essential food sector had continued full operations to ensure the availability of sugar in Nigeria. According to him, the company had just concluded its crushing season, harvesting 146,200 tons of sugar cane and producing 15,860 tons of sugar. He further stated that the company also produced 9,640 tons of molasses and 11,600 MWh of electricity generated using bagasse (sugar cane fibre) as fuel. The company is now entering its cultivation season and will maintain high levels of employment to ensure a seamless process.

“At this time, when COVID-19 is causing so much job insecurity, Sunti has maintained its staff strength to do the cultivation of sugarcane, gapping, irrigation, weeding and fertiliser application, as well as maintaining the factory during the off-crop,” he said.

He, however, said that the community had not been left out, pointing out that the 26 communities that makeup Mokwa had benefitted from 4,000 cartons of noodles as part of FMN’s N400m food relief programme. They also utilised more contractors during its harvest, thereby creating more jobs for the community.

Recall that the Chief Executive Officer of the FMN Group, Paul Gbededo had restated the Group’s commitment to ensure food safety in Nigeria by making all its agro-processing facilities operational.

“As one of the largest Foods and Agro-allied Groups in Nigeria, we understand that our role in society remains vital.

“To that end, FMN is committed to our purpose of ‘Feeding the Nation, Every day,’ and has taken strategic measures to safeguard the health and safety of our employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders.