Nigeria targets sugar self-sufficiency as NSDC signs deals for 400,000MT annual output
http://testygossip.com.ng:The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Sugar Department Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin (L), with the CEO of Brent Sugar, Mr. Martins Akinola (R), during the signing ceremony.
By Felix Khanoba
The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has inked landmark agreements with four companies to establish greenfield sugar plants that will collectively produce 400,000 tonnes a year .
The move is a major step in the country’s push to curb costly sugar imports and boost domestic output.
Under the new arrangements, each operator will develop a 100,000-tonne capacity facility across different parts of Nigeria’s agricultural belt: Brent Sugar in Oyo State, Niger Foods in Niger State, Legacy Sugar in Adamawa State, and UMZA in Bauchi State. The spread from the southwest to the northeast is part of a strategy to tap into varied farming conditions while ensuring the economic benefits are widely shared.
The signing ceremony, held at the NSDC headquarters in Abuja, marks one of the boldest expansions yet in Nigeria’s sugar sector, even as the Council will provide tailored project support and absorb certain critical service costs to help the ventures achieve commercial success.
This development builds on recent moves to accelerate the industry’s growth. The NSDC recently entered a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese firm for engineering, procurement, construction, and financing services to develop as many as five sugar estates — an investment worth $1 billion. The collaboration illustrates Nigeria’s readiness to attract foreign expertise and funding to strengthen local capacity.
Nigeria currently relies heavily on sugar imports, a dependence that drains foreign exchange reserves despite repeated policy interventions. For policymakers, expanding local production is now a top priority to improve the trade balance and enhance food security.
NSDC’s Executive Secretary/CEO, Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has declared 2025 a year of “accelerated development” for sugar initiatives, pointing to market shifts that make domestic production more viable than ever. He sees the moment as a rare opportunity to ramp up capacity quickly.
Beyond meeting production targets, the projects are expected to spur job creation in rural communities, upgrade infrastructure, and open both upstream and downstream business opportunities. By placing plants in Oyo, Niger, Adamawa, and Bauchi, the initiative also aims to bridge regional economic disparities.
Success, however, will depend on the Council’s ability to deliver on its promised support and on the operators’ capacity to manage complex agricultural and industrial operations.
The drive forms part of President Bola Tinubu’s broader economic strategy to prioritise import substitution and value addition across critical sectors. With foreign exchange pressures mounting and the need to diversify away from oil revenues growing urgent, agro-processing industries like sugar are gaining greater policy focus.
If the plan delivers, the additional capacity could position Nigeria , a nation of over 200 million with rising consumption, as a future sugar supplier for the West African market under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
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