NSDC mobilises $1bn investment pipeline for sugar self-sufficiency

Nigeria is poised to significantly boost its sugar production and reduce import dependency, with the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) actively mobilizing a $1 billion investment pipeline. This ambitious initiative aims to accelerate the nation's drive towards self-sufficiency in sugar.

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We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution.

The strategy is anchored by a $1 billion engineering, procurement, and construction-plus-finance partnership with SINOMACH of China. Complementing this is a N10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund established in collaboration with the Bank of Industry. NSDC Executive Secretary and CEO, Kamar Bakrin, disclosed these details during a courtesy visit from the Abuja chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors.

Nigeria currently consumes approximately 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar annually, with an estimated $1 billion spent each year on imports. Bakrin highlighted this as a critical opportunity to retain economic value within Nigeria through job creation, enhanced rural incomes, foreign exchange savings, and expanded industrial capacity. He emphasized that Nigeria's challenge lies not in policy but in "world-class execution" and effective governance.

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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, this is not just about producing a commodity.

The Nigeria Sugar Master Plan 2.0 is designed as an "acceleration mandate" to shorten the path to self-sufficiency, targeting local production of around two million metric tonnes. Beyond sugar, the plan envisions leveraging sugarcane for ethanol, animal feed, and electricity generation, creating a comprehensive bio-industrial ecosystem. The council is also reinforcing the Backward Integration Programme with principles of qualification, reward, verification, and enforcement, utilizing satellite imagery and field inspections to ensure genuine commitment to local production.

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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.