The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, says Nigeria’s sugar sector has the potential to generate about one million jobs across its value chain.
Bakrin made the statement during a strategic meeting between the NSDC and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the Customs Headquarters in Abuja.
He said a fully developed sugar industry could transform rural communities, boost industrialisation, and reduce insecurity through large-scale employment opportunities for youths.
“If Nigeria succeeds in developing a proper sugar sector, we would 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 750,000 indirect jobs across its value chain, mainly in about 12 states.
“The beauty of it is that these are rural jobs, not city jobs,” he said.
Bakrin noted that Nigeria currently spends more than one billion dollars annually on sugar imports, adding that local production can convert this outflow into domestic investments and jobs.
He said modern sugar estates generate their own electricity independently of the national grid and could supply excess power to the nation.
“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 said.
Bakrin described the Nigeria Customs Service as a critical partner in implementing the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan through quota enforcement, anti-smuggling operations, and import regulation.
Responding, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, pledged full support for the sugar sector transformation agenda.
Adeniyi said the sector’s potential for job creation, energy supply, rural development, and economic diversification aligned perfectly with Nigeria’s national priorities.
