The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, Kamar Bakrin, has said that a fully developed sugar industry could generate up to one million jobs in Nigeria while helping to tackle insecurity through large-scale rural employment.
Bakrin made the remarks 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, Bakrin said the sugar sector has the potential to create 250,000 direct jobs and an additional 750,000 indirect jobs across its value chain in about 12 states.
He noted that Nigeria currently spends more than $1 billion annually on sugar imports, a figure he said could be redirected into domestic investment, job creation, improved security and industrial growth if the local industry is properly developed.
According to him, most of the jobs created by the sugar sector would be in rural communities, where youth unemployment remains high and often fuels insecurity.
Bakrin argued that the establishment of sugar estates could significantly reduce unrest, as large-scale projects would provide sustainable employment opportunities for young people who might otherwise be vulnerable to criminal activities.
He also highlighted the energy-generation capacity of sugar estates, saying such facilities are able to produce their own electricity independently of the national grid while supplying excess power to nearby communities.
According to him, a standard sugar estate can generate about 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power a small modern city, while consuming only half of that output internally.
Bakrin said the successful implementation of the National Sugar Master Plan II would require only about 200,000 hectares of the more than one million hectares of land suitable for sugar cultivation in Nigeria to achieve self-sufficiency.
He stressed that investors willing to commit billions of dollars to sugar projects need assurance that government policies, incentives and import regulations will be implemented consistently and transparently.
Responding, Adeniyi reaffirmed the commitment of the Customs Service to the transformation of the sugar sector, describing its potential impact on employment, rural development and energy supply as aligned with Nigeria’s economic priorities.
Both agencies agreed to strengthen collaboration in five key areas: market stability, import data transparency, quota allocation, implementation of sugar incentives, and anti-smuggling enforcement.
Adeniyi also called for regular review meetings between the two institutions and proposed joint briefings to Bola Tinubu on progress in the sector.
