Nigeria : What we are doing to halt sugar imports – Council
The NSDC is strengthening oversight of sugar producers under Nigeria’s Backward Integration Programme. Key issues include FTZ loopholes, smuggling, equipment delays, and poor farming practices. Executive Secretary Kamar Bakrin emphasized sanctions for underperformance and support for irrigation and financing. Raw sugar import quotas will now be linked to performance, according to Trade Minister Senator John Owan Enoh.
The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has briefed stakeholders on measures being taken by the council to address impediments to local sugar production.
Speaking at a tripartite meeting of the council, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and investment and the major Backward Integration Programme (BIP) operators, in Abuja, yesterday, the NSDC Chief Executive said the Council has elevated performance monitoring and oversight of BIP operators beyond what the Sugar Industry Monitoring Group (SIMOG) did in the past.
He emphasized robust engagement with operators, setting targets, and following up on deliverables.
Bakrin noted that operators have complained about loopholes in the free trade zone regime, delays in equipment clearing, smuggling, and host community resistance.
The CEO equally highlighted financing support, sanctions for underperformance, and the need for operators to improve agronomic and factory practices.
He emphasized that growing sugarcane and processing it in Nigeria is more sustainable and rewarding than importing raw sugar.
On the feedback he has obtained from the operators, the Executive Secretary told the gathering that: “The operators have complained about the existing loopholes in the free trade zone regime, which they believe certain participants in the NSMP have exploited.
“They also cited delays in the clearing of equipment at the ports, smuggling of sugar into the country, host community resistance to the expansion of their BIP programmes as the primary causes of the delays in their BIP execution.”
Mr. Bakrin further said: “The loopholes in the FTZ regime are being addressed by the ongoing amendment of the NSDC Act by the National Assembly.”
“The amendment process which has involved engagements with the relevant National Assembly Committee, and key stakeholders among other objectives, address the concern of the BIP operators and also make the industry more attractive to other investors.
“The delays in the clearing of equipment at the ports is something that is also being addressed with the Nigeria Customs Service.
“On the issue of smuggling, the volumes do not significantly alter the economics of sugar production and the market dynamics. But regardless, we have engaged the relevant security agencies on the matter.
“In terms of host community resistance, the council consistently intervenes and has actually driven the resolution of these grievances, especially the more significant ones that have been experienced in places like Numan in Adamawa State, and this has been resolved.
“ At the moment, there is currently no backward integration programme in which the host community has restricted access to a significant proportion of land in the country,” he added.
He also informed the gathering that: “One of the things we need to do is aggressive pushing of a sugar sector development fund, as well as securing the kind of guarantees that will allow the cost of borrowing to come down.
“Also, to possibly extend whatever support we can provide around the issues of irrigation facilities, not necessarily as grants, but just to lower the overall cost of irrigation infrastructure.”
While emphasizing the need for severe sanctions for underperformance, Mr. Bakrin said: “We believe that the two critical things that must happen is that the operators must act immediately to stop the deterioration in the output of their current operations, especially around the issues of agronomic and factory practices, which are clearly below global norms and standards.
“They must also actively expand their existing brownfield operations. In addition, we believe that without going into the specifics of individual companies for confidential reasons, the operators need to, as a matter of urgency, take a much more aggressive approach to expanding their BIP programmes to ensure that they are able to deliver on the NSMP targets.
“We believe that basic improvements in agronomics and factory practices can take annual raw sugar production to 200,000 metric tonnes in the short term even from the current land planted with sugarcane.”
The NSDC boss argued that while the business of importation of raw sugar and refining at the existing facilities owned by the major operators may seem profitable on the surface, the more challenging work of actually growing sugar cane and processing it in Nigeria is ultimately more sustainable and rewarding for the operators and the country at large.
In his remarks at the event, the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh, who chaired the meeting said, going forward, allocation of raw sugar importation quota to each of the operators must be strictly tied to performance. He added that his Ministry will take more interest in also monitoring the activities and performance of the BIP operators.
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Source : Vanguard
