NSDC To Remove Impediments To Sugar Production In Nigeria

The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin says the Council is working to removing impediments to sugar production in the country.

Speaking at a tripartite meeting of the agency, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and investment and the major BIP operators, the NSDC boss said the Council has elevated performance monitoring and oversight of the Backward Integration Programme (BIP) operators beyond what the Sugar Industry Monitoring Group (SIMOG) used to do.

According to him, NSDC, under his watch, has emphasised robust, one-on-one, physical and virtual engagement with the operators, giving them targets and following up on deliverables.

On the feedback he has obtained from the operators, the Executive Secretary told the gathering, chaired by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, that: “The operators have complained about the existing loopholes in the free trade zone regime, which they believe certain participants in the NSMP have exploited.

“They also cited delays in the clearing of equipment at the ports, smuggling of sugar into the country, host community resistance to the expansion of their BIP programmes as the primary causes of the delays in their BIP execution,” he explained.
 
“The loopholes in the FTZ regime are being addressed by the ongoing amendment of the NSDC Act by the National Assembly and the amendment process which has involved engagements with the relevant National Assembly Committee, and key stakeholders among other objectives, address the concern of the BIP operators and also make the industry more attractive to other investors”.
 
“The delays in the clearing of equipment at the ports is something that is also being addressed with the Nigeria Customs Service. On the issue of smuggling, the volumes do not significantly alter the economics of sugar production and the market dynamics. But regardless, we have engaged the relevant security agencies on the matter and in terms of host community resistance, the council consistently intervenes and has actually driven the resolution of these grievances, especially the more significant ones that have been experienced in places like Numan in Adamawa State, and this has been resolved. At the moment, there is currently no backward integration programme in which the host community has restricted access to a significant proportion of land in the country”, he stated.
 
He also informed the gathering that as a Council, the NSDC is working on getting comprehensive financing support to aid the development of the industry and, in addition to help the existing operators lower the cost of irrigation.

The NSDC Boss argued that while the business of importation of raw sugar and refining at the existing facilities owned by the major operators may seem profitable on the surface, the more challenging work of actually growing sugar cane and processing it in Nigeria is ultimately more sustainable and rewarding for the operators and the country at large.

Mathew Ayoola, Edited By Grace Namiji