The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has unveiled a $1 billion investment partnership alongside a N10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund to transition Nigeria toward domestic sugar self-sufficiency under the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) 2.0. 

Speaking in Abuja during a courtesy visit by the Abuja Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD), NSDC Executive Secretary Kamar Bakrin stated that the council is actively repositioning the nation’s bio-industrial sugar ecosystem.

Bakrin noted that Nigeria currently consumes roughly 1.8 million tonnes of sugar annually, resulting in an annual import bill of $1 billion, a gap the NSMP 2.0 aims to reverse by targeting 2 million tonnes of local production. 

Emphasising the shift toward rigorous execution, Bakrin stated: “We do not lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution.” To ensure compliance under the Backwards Integration Programme, the council has integrated satellite imagery and independent field inspections to strictly verify local production commitments before granting import quotas.

The N10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund, established in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BOI), is designed to finance feasibility studies and project preparation, creating bankable projects to absorb the $1 billion Engineering, Procurement, Construction-plus-finance agreement with China’s SINOMACH. 

The council is structuring sugarcane value chains to yield ethanol, animal feed, and electricity generation. 

Furthermore, through the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme, participating sugar estates are required to allocate land and social infrastructure investments directly to host communities and local farming clusters.

Source: NAN