Nigeria’s Sugar Sector Can Transform Economy, Tackle Insecurity — Bakrin

The executive secretary/chief executive officer of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has said the development of a fully integrated sugar industry could play a major role in reducing unemployment and addressing Nigeria’s security challenges by expanding rural industrialisation and job creation.

Bakrin made the submission during a strategic meeting between the NSDC and the Nigeria Customs Service at the Customs headquarters in Abuja, where both agencies discussed policy coordination and the implementation of the National Sugar Master Plan II (NSMP II).

Addressing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and senior officials of the service, Bakrin said modern sugar estates were designed not only for production but also for energy generation and rural economic transformation.

He argued that a fully developed sugar sector could reverse Nigeria’s annual over $1 billion expenditure on sugar imports into domestic investment, job creation, and industrial growth.

“If Nigeria succeeds in developing a proper sugar sector, one of the things we would do is convert an annual outflow of over one billion dollars into jobs, security, and industrialisation,” Bakrin said.

According to him, the sector has the potential to generate about 250,000 direct jobs and an additional 750,000 indirect jobs across its value chain, largely concentrated in rural communities across about 12 states.

“The sector can create 250,000 direct jobs and an additional 750,000 jobs across its value chain, primarily across about 12 states. The beauty of it is that these are rural jobs, not city jobs,” he said.

Bakrin also linked large-scale agro-industrial projects such as sugar estates to improved security outcomes, arguing that employment opportunities for young people would reduce vulnerability to crime and social unrest.

“When you have sugar projects, you don’t have unrest or any security challenge because you create so many jobs for the youths,” he stated.

He further explained that sugar estates are designed to be energy self-sufficient, noting that they can generate up to 400 megawatts of power, part of which can be supplied to the national grid.

“A sugar estate provides its own power; it does not rely on the national grid. A sugar estate consumes only about 50 percent of the energy it produces, while the rest can be injected into the national grid,” he said.

Bakrin added that beyond sugar production, the sector represents a broader opportunity for rural infrastructure development, industrialisation, and economic diversification, particularly through the utilisation of over one million hectares of suitable farmland identified for cultivation.

He stressed that investor confidence would depend heavily on consistent policy implementation, transparent incentives, and strong institutional coordination.

Responding, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adeniyi, said the Service would continue to support the sugar sector transformation agenda, describing its potential contribution to jobs, security, and energy supply as significant.

“The potential for job creation, security, rural development, and the added value in terms of energy that we can use speaks directly to Nigeria’s economic priorities,” Adeniyi said.

Both institutions reaffirmed commitment to strengthen collaboration in key areas including market stability, import data transparency, quota enforcement, incentive implementation, and anti-smuggling operations, aimed at improving the sustainability of Nigeria’s sugar industry.