Kamar Bakrin, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), emphasized that boosting Nigeria’s sugar production sector can effectively tackle joblessness, social instability and lagging rural development by generating numerous employment opportunities and drawing investment into countryside regions.
Bakrin shared these views at a high‑level strategic dialogue held between the NSDC and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the Customs Headquarters located in Abuja.
In discussions with Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller‑General of the Nigeria Customs Service, and other senior officers, Bakrin pointed out that a fully mature domestic sugar industry can redirect more than one billion US dollars spent yearly on imported sugar toward local investment, job creation and industrial expansion.
He indicated that across the whole sugar industrial chain covering roughly 12 Nigerian states, the sector is capable of producing around 250,000 direct employment positions and an additional 750,000 indirect jobs.
“What makes this advantageous is that these work opportunities are based in rural areas rather than urban centers. Sugar‑related initiatives offer young people livelihood prospects, which in turn prevents social unrest and security risks,” he remarked.
Bakrin further underscored the energy‑producing capacity of sugar plantations. He explained that contemporary sugar facilities can produce electricity off‑grid and supply surplus power to the national power network.
“Each sugar plantation uses only half of the power it generates, with the remaining output fed into the national grid. This totals approximately 400 megawatts — sufficient to supply electricity for a small modern‑scale city,” he commented.
He also mentioned that Nigeria possesses over one million hectares of land fit for sugarcane planting, and merely 200,000 hectares are needed for the nation to achieve self‑reliance in sugar supply.
In reply, Customs Comptroller‑General Adeniyi pledged that the Nigeria Customs Service will back the NSDC’s plans to revitalize and transform the domestic sugar industry.
