Sugar Council Moves to Unlock $1bn Investment, Tightens Import Quota Rules

The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has announced plans to unlock a $1bn investment pipeline and tighten enforcement of import quota requirements as Nigeria intensifies efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production.

The Council said the measures are part of the implementation of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) 2.0, which seeks to accelerate local production, reduce dependence on imported sugar and retain more value within the Nigerian economy.

The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the NSDC, Mr Kamar Bakrin, disclosed the plans when he received members of the Abuja Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) on a courtesy visit to the Council’s headquarters in Abuja.

Bakrin said Nigeria’s annual sugar consumption stands at about 1.8 million metric tonnes, with an estimated $1bn spent each year on imports from foreign producers.

He said the Council now viewed the import-dependent market as an opportunity to build domestic production capacity, create jobs, increase rural incomes and conserve foreign exchange.

According to him, the NSMP 2.0 is designed to accelerate Nigeria’s journey towards producing about two million metric tonnes of sugar locally.

Bakrin said the major challenge confronting the sector had historically not been a lack of policies, but weak execution, adding that the Council was now focused on building the institutional structures required to translate policies into measurable outcomes.

“We don’t lack policy. What we have struggled with is world-class execution,” he said.

The NSDC boss explained that the Council was also repositioning sugarcane as the foundation of a broader bio-industrial ecosystem rather than treating sugar merely as a commodity.

He said sugarcane could provide multiple products, including sugar, ethanol, animal feed and electricity, creating opportunities for investment across the value chain.

“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,” Bakrin said.

On investment financing, he said the Council had identified inadequate project preparation as one of the major constraints preventing available capital from flowing into the sector.

To address this, the NSDC has established a ₦10bn Sugar Project Acceleration Fund in partnership with the Bank of Industry to finance feasibility studies and other project preparation activities.

The initiative is expected to convert greenfield sugar projects into bankable, investment-ready packages that can attract long-term financing.

Bakrin said the prepared projects would in turn feed into a $1bn Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)-plus-finance partnership with SINOMACH of China, providing a channel for construction and financing once projects meet the required preparation standards.

The Council is also engaging with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to accelerate the development of sugar estates across the country.

Beyond financing, Bakrin said the Council was strengthening the Backward Integration Programme (BIP) to ensure that companies benefiting from import quotas demonstrate genuine commitment to domestic production.

He said the revamped framework was based on four principles: qualify, reward, verify and enforce.

Under the new approach, companies seeking import quotas would be required to demonstrate actual commitment to backward integration, while major refiners would provide audited production commitments linked to their quotas.