Nigeria to Attract Investment over $1 Billion by The National Sugar Master Plan
The National Sugar Master Plan of Nigeria was designed to attract over $1 billion annually in local and foreign direct investments and create an estimated 107,000 jobs over the first ten-year period. Meanwhile, over 10,000 jobs have already been created by the Sunti Golden Sugar Estates.
The plan, an initiative of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, was designed to attract over $1 billion annually in local and foreign direct investments. This was revealed by the minister of industry trade and investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, when he visited the facility on December.
The minister who commended the Sunti Golden Sugar Estates for the level of investment made in the sugar sector in Nigeria stated that the investment by was the largest under the Sugar Backward Integration Policy of the federal government. With a production target of over 1,500 tonnes by the end of 2019, the minister described the Sugar Estate’s investment as laudable, adding that it will provide jobs for many Nigerians.
“I just arrived at the Sunti Golden Sugar Estates in Mokwa, Niger state, for my assessment tour of the backward integration programmes in the sugar industry.
On my tour of the Sunti Sugar Estates, I emphasized that I am quite impressed with the level of investment and planning that has gone into this enterprise. It is my hope that this will translate into more jobs and opportunities for all Nigerians. During my assessment tour, I had a great time learning how to harvest sugarcane at the Sunti Golden Sugar Estates farm” the minister wrote on his social media pages.
According to the owners, over N64 billion had been so far invested in the Sugar estates with a number of facilities already provided, including a landing strip, roads, schools, clinics among others.
“The Sunti Sugar Estate has 17,000 hectares of arable farmland, a sugar mill with a capacity to process 4,500 metric tonnes of sugarcane daily and at full capacity. As at today, 3,000ha of sugar cane has been developed and is under pivot, sprinkler and furrow irrigation,” the management said.
The Sunti Golden Sugar Estate Located on the banks of River Niger, in Mokwa, Niger state, which is owned by Sunti Golden Sugar Estates (SGSE) Ltd. a subsidiary of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc. Its estate features 17, 000 hectares of irrigable farmland and a Sugar mill that process 4,500 metric tons of sugarcane per day. At full capacity, the estate is expected to produce 1 Million tons of Sugarcane which roughly translates into 100,000 metric tons of sugar yearly.
