Sugar Council Moves to Unlock $1bn Investment, Accelerates Drive for Self-sufficiency
The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has unveiled measures to unlock a $1 billion investment pipeline and strengthen enforcement of import quota requirements as Nigeria intensifies efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production.
The initiative is part of the implementation of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) 2.0, which seeks to expand domestic sugar production, reduce the country’s dependence on imports and retain more value within the Nigerian economy.
The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the NSDC, Mr Kamar Bakrin, disclosed this when he received members of the Abuja Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) on a courtesy visit to the Council’s headquarters in Abuja.
Bakrin said Nigeria currently consumes about 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar annually, with an estimated $1 billion spent each year importing the commodity.
He described the import-dependent market as an opportunity to build domestic production capacity, create jobs, increase rural incomes and conserve foreign exchange.
According to him, the NSMP 2.0 is designed to accelerate Nigeria’s journey towards producing about two million metric tonnes of sugar locally.
Bakrin said the sector’s major challenge had historically been less about policy formulation and more about implementation, stressing that the Council was now focused on strengthening institutional structures capable of translating policies into measurable outcomes.
“We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution,” he said.
The NSDC boss also said the Council was repositioning sugarcane as the foundation of a broader bio-industrial ecosystem rather than treating sugar solely as a commodity.
He explained that sugarcane could generate multiple products, including sugar, ethanol, animal feed and electricity, thereby creating investment opportunities across the value chain.
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“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,” Bakrin said.
On investment financing, Bakrin identified inadequate project preparation as one of the major barriers preventing available capital from flowing into Nigeria’s sugar industry.
He said the Council had established a ₦10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund in partnership with the Bank of Industry to finance feasibility studies and other project-preparation activities.
The initiative is expected to transform greenfield sugar projects into bankable and investment-ready packages capable of attracting long-term financing.
Bakrin said the prepared projects would subsequently feed into a $1 billion Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)-plus-finance partnership with SINOMACH of China, creating a potential channel for construction and financing once projects meet the required preparation standards.
The Council is also engaging the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to accelerate the development of sugar estates across the country.
Beyond financing and infrastructure, Bakrin said the Council was strengthening the Backward Integration Programme (BIP) to ensure that companies benefiting from import quotas demonstrate genuine commitment to domestic production.
He said the revamped framework would operate on four principles: qualify, reward, verify and enforce.
Under the new approach, companies seeking import quotas would be required to demonstrate actual commitment to backward integration, while major refiners would provide audited production commitments tied to their approved quotas.
The measures, he said, are intended to ensure that access to sugar import quotas translates into concrete investment in local production rather than perpetuating dependence on foreign supplies.
The NSDC said the broader objective was to build a competitive domestic sugar industry capable of meeting national demand while creating jobs, supporting rural communities, conserving foreign exchange and positioning Nigeria as a major player in the regional sugar value chain.
