ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, Kamar Bakrin, has said a fully developed sugar industry could generate up to one million jobs and help tackle insecurity in Nigeria through massive rural employment opportunities for youths.
According to a statement Bakrin stated this during a strategic meeting between the NSDC and the Nigeria Customs Service at the Customs headquarters in Abuja.
Addressing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, and senior officials of the service, he said the industry has the potential to create 250,000 direct jobs and 750,000 indirect jobs across its value chain in about 12 states.
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“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.
“The sector can create 250,000 direct jobs and an additional indirect 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 linked the establishment of sugar estates to improved security, noting that large-scale youth employment would reduce the likelihood of involvement in criminal activities.
“When you have sugar projects, you don’t have unrest or any security challenge because you create so many jobs for the youths,” Bakrin said.
He also stated that sugar estates are capable of generating their own electricity independently of the national grid and contributing excess power to the country’s energy supply.
“A sugar estate provides its own power; it does not rely on the national grid. As a matter of fact, it contributes to the national grid. A sugar estate consumes only about 50 per cent of the energy it produces, while the rest can be injected into the national grid,” he stated.
“And we are talking about 400 megawatts. That is enough to power at least a small modern city or community,” he added.
Bakrin explained that successful implementation of the NSMP II would transform over one billion dollars currently spent annually on sugar imports into local investments capable of creating jobs, developing rural communities, and strengthening Nigeria’s industrial base.
He disclosed that Nigeria possesses more than one million hectares of land suitable for sugar cultivation, while only about 200,000 hectares would be required to attain self-sufficiency.
According to him, investors willing to commit billions of dollars to sugar projects need assurance that government policies and incentives would be implemented transparently and consistently.
He described the Nigeria Customs Service as the most critical enforcement agency for the success of the NSMP II, particularly in areas such as quota administration, import regulation, fiscal incentives, and anti-smuggling operations.
Responding, Adeniyi said the service fully supports the sugar sector transformation agenda and described the industry’s projected energy contribution as a major economic opportunity for the country.
“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,” he said.
He assured the NSDC of Customs’ readiness to strengthen intelligence sharing, data transparency, quota enforcement, and operational collaboration to ensure effective implementation of the NSMP II.
Both agencies reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate on five key areas: market stability, import data transparency, quota allocation, sugar incentives implementation, and anti-smuggling enforcement.
Adeniyi also called for regular review meetings between both institutions to assess implementation progress and jointly brief Bola Tinubu on developments in the sector.