Abdul Samad Rabiu, founder and chairman of BUA Group, hosted Tony Elumelu, chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), and UBA's executive team at BUA's Lagos headquarters for strategic discussions on deepening capital and industrial collaboration. The meeting marked a significant alignment between two of Nigeria's most influential institutions, with focus on expanding financing for large-scale manufacturing and boosting domestic production across food, infrastructure, and export sectors. Rabiu highlighted the nearly 30-year partnership, tracing it from Standard Trust Bank to UBA, describing it as rooted in shared vision. "Enduring partnerships are not built on transactions, but on conviction," Rabiu said. Elumelu echoed the sentiment, calling BUA Group a model of what long-term capital and disciplined execution can achieve.
BUA Foods, a subsidiary of BUA Group, reported audited results for the year ended December 31, 2025, with revenue rising 16 per cent to N1.77 trillion from N1.53 trillion in 2024. Profit after tax jumped 95 per cent to N518.4 billion, up from N265.99 billion the previous year. Gross profit reached N737.26 billion, while earnings per share climbed to N28.80. The company proposed a dividend of N28 per share, a 115 per cent increase from N13 in 2024, amounting to a total payout of N504 billion pending shareholder approval. Cost of sales was N1.037 trillion, and total assets grew 27 per cent to N1.39 trillion. Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu described the performance as disciplined scaling. Managing Director Ayodele Abioye affirmed the strategy of capacity expansion and supply chain optimisation.
When a single industrial group can post N1.77 trillion in revenue and steer a banking titan like UBA into deeper partnership talks, the balance of economic power in Nigeria is quietly shifting. Rabiu isn't just building factories—he's consolidating a parallel architecture of capital and production that operates with minimal reliance on state support. This isn't charity or policy lobbying; it's a self-sustaining engine of growth that now sets its own terms. For ordinary Nigerians, the real impact lies in whether this scale translates into stable prices, more jobs, and less dependence on imports.
