Nigeria : NSDC tightens sugar quota rules, holds talks with Afreximbank, NGF to accelerate sugar estate development
Nigeria’s National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) is tightening oversight of sugar import quotas by requiring companies to demonstrate genuine backward-integration commitments. The council will use satellite imagery and field inspections to verify projects, while a ₦10 billion fund with the Bank of Industry will help develop bankable sugar projects and accelerate domestic production.
Kamar Bakrin, executive secretary and chief executive officer of the NSDC, spoke on Sunday 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.
The NSDC boss said the council had rebuilt its accountability framework around four principles; qualify, reward, verify and enforce; to ensure companies benefiting from import quotas demonstrate actual commitment to local sugar production.
“Companies seeking import quotas must now demonstrate genuine commitment to backward integration, while major refiners are required to provide audited production commitments tied to their quotas, with clear consequences for shortfalls,” Bakrin said.
He said the council will deploy satellite imagery alongside physical field inspections to independently verify activities at sugar project sites.
“Satellite imagery alongside field inspections will allow us to independently verify activity at every site, replacing self-reporting with objective, data-driven oversight,” Bakrin said.
The move, he said, is intended to replace reliance on self-reporting with objective, data-driven monitoring and ensure that companies deliver on their commitments.
Bakrin said the council was also addressing the financing challenges facing the sector through a N10 billion sugar project acceleration fund established in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BOI).
He said the fund would finance feasibility studies and project preparation, with the aim of converting greenfield sugar sites into bankable, investment-ready projects.
“Our diagnosis of the sector’s financing challenge is that capital is available. What has been missing is a pipeline of bankable projects capable of absorbing it,” he said.
The NSDC said the prepared projects would subsequently be presented to potential investors and financing partners as part of efforts to accelerate development of sugar estates across the country.
Bakrin also announced that the council is engaging the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and working with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) to accelerate sugar estate development.
‘COUNCIL TARGETS FARMER PARTICIPATION’
He said the council is also strengthening participation by smallholder farmers through the Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme (SODP).
According to him, sugar estates will be required to reserve land for outgrowers and commit part of their investments to host communities through employment and social and physical infrastructure.
Bakrin said the objective is to ensure that communities hosting sugar projects benefit directly from the development of the industry.
He also said the council is adopting institutional reforms aimed at improving the efficiency and sustainability of its operations.
Drawing lessons from Brazil’s sugar industry, Bakrin said Nigeria’s challenge was not necessarily agricultural capacity but the ability to build institutions capable of sustaining productivity over time.
“Brazil did not win by planting better cane. They won by building institutions that compounded productivity for years, for decades,” he said.
He said the council is developing standard operating procedures for its critical functions using the ‘six Sigma’ methodology to create standardised and repeatable processes.
Bakrin also invited the CIoD to support the council by strengthening corporate governance across sugar estates, mills and outgrower companies and contributing to policy discussions aimed at attracting long-term investment into the sector.
Earlier, Fatima Mede, leader of the CIoD delegation, commended the council’s reforms and its efforts to accelerate the development of Nigeria’s sugar industry.
Mede said the institute was ready to collaborate with the NSDC in areas of mutual interest to support the growth of the sector.
To Read more about Sugar Industry continue reading Agriinsite.com
Source : The Cable
