The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has launched a series of strategic interventions to accelerate Nigeria’s drive toward sugar self-sufficiency, anchored by a $1 billion investment pipeline, a ₦10 billion project development fund, and a revamped enforcement regime.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Abuja Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) at the NSDC headquarters, Executive Secretary and CEO Mr. Kamar Bakrin outlined the Council’s execution-focused agenda under the revised Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP 2.0).
Nigeria currently consumes approximately 1.8 million metric tonnes of sugar annually, spending an estimated $1 billion on foreign imports. Mr. Bakrin stated that the primary objective of NSMP 2.0 is to capture this domestic demand by producing two million metric tonnes of sugar locally, keeping capital within the country to create jobs, generate foreign exchange savings, and expand rural incomes.
”We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution,” Mr. Bakrin said, characterizing the industry’s historical challenges as issues of governance and execution rather than agronomy.
To address long-standing financing and project execution bottlenecks, the NSDC has structured several key partnerships:
$1 Billion SINOMACH Partnership: An EPC-plus-finance agreement with China’s SINOMACH to provide construction and financing infrastructure for new sugar facilities.
₦10 Billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund: Established in collaboration with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to fund feasibility studies and convert greenfield sites into bankable investments.
Institutional Alliances: Partnerships with Afreximbank and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to accelerate land acquisition and the rollout of sugar estates nationwide.
Under NSMP 2.0, sugarcane will also serve as the foundation for a broader bio-industrial ecosystem, capturing secondary value through the commercial production of ethanol, animal feed, and electricity.
To enforce compliance among operators under the Backward Integration Programme (BIP), the NSDC has instituted a four-pillar framework: qualify, reward, verify, and enforce. Refiners seeking import quota privileges are now required to submit audited production commitments, with satellite imagery and field inspections deployed to independently verify actual local cultivation and processing activity.
The strategy also incorporates the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme (SODP), mandating that sugar estates reserve land for local smallholder farmers and allocate capital toward social and physical infrastructure in host communities.
To ensure long-term institutional stability, Mr. Bakrin noted that the NSDC is currently internalizing Six Sigma methodologies to standardize standard operating procedures across all supporting functions.
Leader of the CIoD delegation, Mrs. Fatima Nana Mede, commended the Council’s structural reforms and momentum toward self-sufficiency, expressing the Institute’s readiness to collaborate on strengthening corporate governance across sugar estates, mills, and outgrower companies.
