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 Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Council, 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 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 ₦10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund established with the Bank of Industry (BoI), and tighter accountability under the Backward Integration Programme (BIP).
He said Nigeria consumes about 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar annually, with about $1 billion spent on imports each year, 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 Backward Integration Programme had been redesigned around four principles: qualify, reward, verify and enforce.
He said companies seeking import quotas would be required to demonstrate genuine commitment to backward integration, while 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 independently verify activities at sugar project sites.
Bakrin said the financing challenge in the sector was not necessarily a shortage of capital, but the lack of bankable projects capable of attracting and absorbing available funds.
To address this, he said the ₦10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund, established in partnership with BoI, would finance feasibility studies and project preparation to transform greenfield sugar sites into investment-ready projects.
He said the prepared projects would then be connected to the $1 billion EPC-plus-finance agreement with SINOMACH, creating a financing and construction pathway for viable developments.
The Council is also engaging the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and partnering with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to accelerate the development of sugar estates across the country.
Bakrin further highlighted the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme (SODP), which he said was designed to ensure that smallholder farmers participate directly in the growth of the industry.
Under NSMP 2.0, he said sugar estates would be required to allocate land for outgrowers and invest in host communities through employment, social infrastructure and other development projects.
He said the Council’s engagements with Brazil and other leading sugar-producing countries had shown that strong institutions, rather than agricultural conditions alone, were central to building a successful sugar industry.
“Brazil did not win by planting better cane. They won by building institutions that compounded productivity for years, for decades,” he said.
Bakrin said the NSDC was also adopting Standard Operating Procedures across its critical functions using Six Sigma methodology to create efficient, standardised and sustainable processes.
“I hold a very strong conviction that the difference between the countries that industrialised and those that did not rarely has to do with the quality of their plants. It is the quality of their institutions,” he said.
He urged the Chartered Institute of Directors to support the emerging sugar economy by strengthening corporate governance across sugar estates, mills and outgrower companies, while contributing to policy development and stability needed to attract long-term investment.
Earlier, the leader of the CIoD delegation, Fatima Nana Mede, commended the NSDC leadership for the reforms in the sugar industry and its renewed push towards self-sufficiency.
She expressed the institute’s readiness to collaborate with the Council in areas of mutual interest to support the development of Nigeria’s sugar sector.
