NSDC Unlocks $1bn Investment Drive to End Nigeria’s Sugar Import Bill

The National Sugar Development Council says it is mobilising a $1bn investment pipeline to fast-track Nigeria’s journey to sugar self-sufficiency.

The council said the plan rests on a $1bn engineering, procurement and construction plus finance partnership with SINOMACH of China, alongside a N10bn Sugar Project Acceleration Fund set up with the Bank of Industry.

In a statement issued on Sunday, NSDC noted that Nigeria consumes about 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar yearly, sending roughly $1bn abroad to foreign producers every year.

The council’s Executive Secretary and CEO, Kamar Bakrin, disclosed the plans while hosting members of the Abuja chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors, who paid a courtesy visit to NSDC’s headquarters on Thursday.

Bakrin said Nigeria’s sugar deficit represents a chance to keep more value in the local economy through jobs, rural incomes, foreign exchange savings and stronger industrial capacity.

“We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution,” he said, insisting the real challenge lies in governance rather than farming itself.

He described the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan 2.0 as an “acceleration mandate” designed to shorten the country’s path to producing about two million metric tonnes of sugar locally.

Bakrin explained that the council’s ambitions go beyond sugar alone, since sugarcane can also support ethanol, animal feed and power production.

“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, and you can produce power. Our job is to build a bio-industrial ecosystem around it. This is not just about producing a commodity,” he said.

On enforcement, Bakrin said the Backward Integration Programme has been restructured around four principles: qualify, reward, verify and enforce. Companies seeking import quotas will now need to show genuine commitment to backward integration, while major refiners must provide audited production commitments tied to their quotas.

He added that the council is deploying satellite imagery and field inspections to independently verify activity at sugar production sites.

“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. The Council’s response is to industrialise project preparation itself,” Bakrin said.

He explained that the N10bn Sugar Project Acceleration Fund will finance feasibility studies and project preparation, turning greenfield sites into investment-ready packages that feed directly into the SINOMACH agreement, which offers a ready channel for construction and financing once projects are prepared.

The council is also engaging Afreximbank and partnering with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to speed up the development of sugar estates nationwide, the statement added.

Turning to smallholder farmers, Bakrin said the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme is built to make farmers co-owners of the sector’s growth. Every sugar estate under the NSMP 2.0, he said, will be required to reserve land for outgrowers and invest part of its capital in host communities through infrastructure and employment.

Drawing on lessons from Brazil and other major sugar-producing nations, Bakrin stressed that institutional development is key to sustained productivity and invited the Chartered Institute of Directors to help strengthen board governance across sugar estates, mills and outgrower companies.

Leading the CIoD delegation, Fatima Mede commended the council’s leadership on the sector’s reforms and its push toward self-sufficiency, saying the institute was ready to work with NSDC in areas of shared interest.