Executive Secretary, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Zacch Adedeji yesterday disclosed that the sector’s next direction is the growing of cane in the country.
He stated that with the Backward Integration Programme serving as a guide to operators in the sector, this is to enable them mill it into raw sugar for refining, with this the need to import raw sugar into the country would come to an end.
Adedeji disclosed this during a courtesy visit by the management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital in Abuja, stating that importation of raw sugar into the country is the aspect of drawing back the sector.
He however, said with the 150,000 hectares of acquired land to be irrigated and grow cane, the sector would meet 50 percent of what is required in the country.
He added that the four licensed sugar producers in the country refine more than what is consumed in the country annually but it is still seeking new investors in the sector.
According to him, “Before, the Sugar Master Plan, what normally happen is to import refined sugar into the country. But since 2013, we have stopped the importation of refined sugar. Subsequently, the sugar companies focused on refining, so, the capacity they all have doubled, at 3.5m metric tons, our consumption which means we have enough capacity to export outside Nigeria.
On whether the companies are abiding by the master plan, he said, “In the month of February, we gave an allocation of quota to all the operators, one of the conditions was the recommitment to the supremacy of the master plan and true to their words, none of them has deviated because the plan is not just a policy but an act. They don’t have the choice but to obey the law.
The Chairman of ATBU’s Governing Board, Abba Lawal, said the visit was to solicit in ways the hospital could upgraded to reset ailments Nigerians go to abroad to obtain.