Nigeria’s National Sugar Development Council, NSDC, has secured a deal with four operators to develop greenfield sugar projects that will produce 400,000 tonnes annually, reports thegazellenews.com.
NSDC, made this disclosure in a statement issued in Abuja after the partnership signing ceremony.
According to the statement, the deal is the latest phase in an ambitious campaign by the Nigerian government to slash the country’s hefty sugar import bill and achieve domestic self-sufficiency.
The statement added that the four operators will each develop 100,000-tonne facilities across Nigeria’s agricultural belt, such as Brent Sugar in Oyo State, Niger Foods in Niger State, Legacy Sugar in Adamawa State, and UMZA in Bauchi State.
“The geographic spread from Nigeria’s south-west to north-east reflects a deliberate strategy to leverage diverse agricultural conditions and distribute economic benefits across regions.
“The agreements, signed at NSDC’s Abuja headquarters, represent a significant scaling of Nigeria’s sugar development ambitions. Under the terms, the council will provide customised project development support and cover critical service costs to ensure the ventures achieve commercial viability.
“This expansion builds on Nigeria’s increasingly aggressive approach to sugar sector development. The NSDC recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese firm for engineering, procurement, construction, and financing (EPC-F) services to construct up to five sugar estates, representing a collective investment of $1 billion. This Chinese partnership underscores Nigeria’s willingness to leverage foreign expertise and capital to rapidly develop domestic capacity,” the statement partly reads.
Commenting, the Executive Secretary/CEO of the Council, Mr. Kamar Bakrin, said the government has designated 2025 as a year of “accelerated development” for sugar projects.
He added that the initiative reflects the government’s urgency in addressing food security concerns and reducing import dependence.
Bakrin argued that structural changes in global commodity markets have made local production more commercially attractive than at any point in the industry’s history, presenting a window of opportunity for rapid capacity expansion.
