The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) is putting together a $1bn investment pipeline to help Nigeria produce more of its own sugar and cut spending on imports, its Executive Secretary, Kamar Bakrin.
Nigeria uses about 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar every year, and around $1bn goes to foreign producers annually to meet this demand, the council said in a note released on Sunday.
Bakrin said two deals are backing the plan: a $1bn engineering, procurement, construction and finance agreement with SINOMACH, a Chinese company, and a N10bn Sugar Project Acceleration Fund set up with the Bank of Industry.
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He gave the update when he met members of the Abuja chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors, who visited the council’s office in Abuja on Thursday.
“We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution,” Bakrin told the visitors, saying the bigger problem was how the sector is run, not farming itself.
Turning ideas into ready projects
Bakrin said money for sugar projects is not hard to find, but there have not been enough well-prepared projects ready to receive it.
“The Council’s diagnosis of the sector’s financing challenge is that capital is available — what has been missing is a pipeline of bankable projects capable of absorbing it. The Council’s response is to industrialise project preparation itself,” he said.
He explained that the N10bn fund will pay for feasibility studies and early project work, turning empty land into packages that investors can fund with confidence.
“These packages will in turn feed the $1 billion EPC-plus-finance agreement signed with SINOMACH of China, which provides a ready channel for construction and financing once projects are prepared,” he said.
The council is also working with Afreximbank and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to speed up work on sugar estates across the country, he said.
Bakrin said the plan, known as the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan 2.0, is meant to shorten the time it takes Nigeria to grow enough sugar for itself, with a goal of about two million metric tonnes produced locally.
He said sugarcane can also be turned into ethanol, animal feed and electricity, so the council wants to build more than one product from the crop.
“We have been blessed with a crop that is one of the most generous God has ever made. From sugarcane you can get sugar, you can get ethanol, you can get animal feed, you can produce power. Our job is to build a bio-industrial ecosystem around it — this is not just about producing a commodity,” he said.
Checks for importers and support for small farmers
Bakrin said the council has rebuilt its Backward Integration Programme around four rules: qualify, reward, verify and enforce.
He said companies asking for import quotas must show real proof that they are growing sugarcane locally, while large refiners must give audited production figures tied to their quotas.
The council is using satellite pictures and physical checks on farms to confirm what companies say they are doing, he said.
For smallholder farmers, Bakrin said the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme is designed to make them part-owners of the sector’s success, not just labourers.
He said every sugar estate under the new master plan must set aside land for outgrower farmers and spend part of its capital on schools, roads and jobs in host communities.
Bakrin said Nigeria can learn from Brazil and other sugar-producing nations, where strong institutions helped keep production levels up over time.
He asked the Chartered Institute of Directors to help build well-run boards for sugar estates, mills and outgrower companies.
The leader of the CIoD team, Fatima Mede, praised the council’s changes in the sugar industry and its plan to help Nigeria grow enough sugar for itself.
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