The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has unveiled a $1 billion investment pipeline and a stronger enforcement framework as part of efforts to accelerate Nigeria’s drive towards sugar self-sufficiency.
The council’s executive secretary/chief executive officer, Kamar Bakrin, disclosed this during a visit by members of the Abuja Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) to the NSDC headquarters in Abuja.
Bakrin said the council’s strategy is anchored on a $1 billion Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)-plus-finance partnership with SINOMACH of China, a N10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund established with the Bank of Industry (BoI), and tighter accountability under the Backwards Integration Programme (BIP).
He said Nigeria consumes about 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar annually, with about $1 billion spent on imports, describing the huge import bill as an opportunity to build domestic production and retain more value within the Nigerian economy.
According to him, the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) 2.0 is designed to accelerate the production of about two million metric tonnes of sugar locally while creating jobs, increasing rural incomes, saving foreign exchange and expanding industrial capacity.
“We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution,” Bakrin said, stressing that the sector’s challenge was more about governance and delivery than farming.
He said the council was therefore shifting its focus towards implementation, describing NSMP 2.0 as an “acceleration mandate” aimed at shortening Nigeria’s path to self-sufficiency.
Beyond sugar production, Bakrin said the Council was positioning sugarcane as the foundation of a broader bio-industrial economy capable of generating sugar, ethanol, animal feed and electricity.
“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,” he said.
“Our job is to build a bio-industrial ecosystem around it — this is not just about producing a commodity.”
On enforcement, the NSDC boss said the Backwards Integration Programme had been redesigned around four principles: qualify, reward, verify and enforce.
He said companies seeking import quotas would be required to demonstrate a genuine commitment to backward integration. At the same time, major refiners would have to submit audited production commitments linked to their quotas.
The Council, he added, would impose consequences on companies that fail to meet their commitments and would use satellite imagery alongside physical inspections to verify activities at sugar project sites independently.
