Nigeria’s NSDC mobilises US$1B investment pipeline to boost sugar production

NIGERIA – Nigeria’s National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has mobilised an investment pipeline worth US$1 billion to increase sugar production and reduce the country’s reliance on imports. 

The pipeline includes a US$1 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)-plus-finance partnership with China’s SINOMACH and a N10 billion Sugar Project Acceleration Fund established with the Bank of Industry (BoI). The fund will prepare greenfield sugar estates for investment under the Backward Integration Programme (BIP). 

NSDC Executive Secretary Kamar Bakrin disclosed the investment plans when he received the Abuja Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) at the council’s headquarters. 

Bakrin said the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) 2.0 targets annual production of about two million tonnes, above current consumption of approximately 1.8 million tonnes. 

Nigeria spends an estimated US$1 billion annually on imported sugar to meet domestic demand. 

Bakrin said the industry’s major challenge was not a lack of policies but poor implementation. He said the council had restructured its BIP around four principles: qualify, reward, verify and enforce. 

Under the framework, companies seeking import quotas must demonstrate commitment to backward integration, while sugar refiners must submit audited production targets linked to their quotas. 

The NSDC is also using satellite imagery alongside physical inspections to verify activities on sugar estates, reducing reliance on companies’ self-reported information. 

Bakrin said the council was positioning sugarcane as the foundation of a bio-industrial value chain covering ethanol, animal feed and power generation. 

The NSDC is partnering with Afreximbank and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to accelerate sugar estate development across states. 

Under the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme (SODP), each estate will be required to allocate land to smallholder farmers and commit part of its investment to host communities, according to Bakrin. 

He cited Brazil’s sugar industry as an example of how strong institutions and consistent implementation can support sector development, saying Brazil’s progress was not based solely on agricultural advantages. 

Responding to the presentation, CIoD delegation leader Fatima Nana Mede commended the NSDC’s reforms and expressed the institute’s readiness to collaborate with the council. 

Mede said the collaboration would focus on strengthening corporate governance across sugar estates, mills and outgrower companies. 

The NSDC said the investment pipeline forms part of efforts to expand sugar production and develop a sugarcane-based industrial sector. 

Bakrin said stronger enforcement of backward integration requirements would remain central to ensuring companies receiving import quota privileges meet their production commitments. 

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