By Esther Ososanya
The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has signed fresh agreements with four major operators to roll out large-scale greenfield projects expected to produce 400,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually.
This is one of Nigeria’s boldest industrial pushes in decades to protect its economy and cut the massive foreign exchange drain from sugar imports.
Under the deals, Brent Sugar in Oyo, Niger Foods in Niger, Legacy Sugar in Adamawa, and UMZA in Bauchi will each build a 100,000-metric-tonne facility.
By spreading projects across Nigeria’s agricultural belt, the NSDC aims to maximise output, diversify risk, and ensure that economic benefits reach multiple regions.
These agreements build on the council’s recent memorandum with a Chinese engineering giant for the engineering, procurement, construction, and financing of up to five sugar estates worth $1 billion.
This move reflects Nigeria’s pivot toward using foreign expertise and capital to accelerate industrial capacity.
Kamar Bakrin, the NSDC’s Executive Secretary/CEO, declared 2025 the “year of accelerated development” for the sugar industry, pointing to rare global market conditions that now make domestic production more profitable than imports.
Cutting the Forex Drain and Boosting the Naira
Nigeria currently spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually importing sugar, a figure worsened by dollar scarcity. By increasing domestic production, the country could cut imports by nearly 40%, conserving foreign exchange reserves and easing pressure on the naira.
Economic analysts say this would also allow Nigeria to channel more forex into other priority sectors such as power, healthcare, and manufacturing, creating a more balanced and resilient economy.
This sugar expansion fits squarely into President Bola Tinubu’s industrial policy, which focuses on import substitution, value addition, and agro-industrial diversification.
Sugar is now considered a strategic commodity, much like rice, wheat, and dairy, with the potential to drive rural industrialisation and shield Nigeria from global supply shocks.
The geographical spread from Oyo in the southwest to Bauchi in the northeast also aligns with the government’s economic inclusion agenda, ensuring that both urban and rural communities benefit from industrial growth.
Jobs, Infrastructure, and Regional Trade
Once completed, these sugar projects are expected to create thousands of rural jobs, improve local infrastructure, and connect more communities to Nigeria’s industrial supply chains.
Beyond self-sufficiency, Nigeria could use this new capacity to become a sugar hub for West Africa under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework. If sustained, this production boost could deepen ECOWAS trade ties, grow non-oil exports, and cement Nigeria’s influence in regional markets.
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Despite the optimism, the success of this expansion depends on how well the NSDC and private partners handle persistent infrastructure gaps, financing delays, and regulatory bottlenecks. Previous sugar sector initiatives stumbled for precisely these reasons.
Still, the combination of government policy direction, private-sector execution, and foreign capital offers a rare opportunity to permanently shift Nigeria’s sugar trade balance, strengthening both economic resilience and the naira.
Esther Ososanya is an investigative journalist with Pinnacle Daily, reporting across health, business, environment, metro, Fct and crime. Known for her bold, empathetic storytelling, she uncovers hidden truths, challenges broken systems, and gives voice to overlooked Nigerians. Her work drives national conversations and demands accountability one powerful story at a time.
