The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has concluded and signed agreements with four operators to develop greenfield sugar projects that will collectively produce 400,000 tones annually.
The four operators will each develop 100,000-tonne facilities across 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 agreements, signed at NSDC’s Abuja headquarters, represent a significant scaling of Nigeria’s sugar development ambitions.
Under the terms, the council will provide customized project development support and cover critical service costs to ensure the ventures achieve commercial viability.
Also, 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 Executive Secretary/CEO of the Council, Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has designated 2025 as a year of “accelerated development” for sugar projects, reflecting the government’s urgency in addressing food security concerns and reducing import dependence.
Mr. Bakrin argues 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.
Based on the agreement, the four new projects promise benefits beyond production targets, each facility is expected to generate significant employment in predominantly rural areas, develop local infrastructure, and create upstream and downstream economic opportunities.
The geographic spread across Oyo, Niger, Adamawa and Bauchi states also reflects a deliberate strategy to distribute economic benefits and reduce regional inequalities.
The new capacity would represent a notable expansion of domestic production capabilities in a country of over 200 million people with growing consumption patterns.
Victoria Ibanga