‘Sugar industry can create 1m jobs’

The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has stressed the impact of the Nigerian sugar industry, noting that the industry is taking critical steps in tackling Nigeria’s security challenges from the root cause by creating jobs and bringing development to the rural areas. Speaking during a strategic meeting between […]

The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has stressed the impact of the Nigerian sugar industry, noting that the industry is taking critical steps in tackling Nigeria’s security challenges from the root cause by creating jobs and bringing development to the rural areas.
Speaking during a strategic meeting between the NSDC and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Abuja, the Executive Secretary stated that modern sugar estates are designed to generate their own electricity independently of the national grid while also supplying excess power for national use.
“If Nigeria succeeds in developing a proper sugar sector, one of the things we would do is 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, primarily across about 12 states. The beauty of it is that these are rural jobs, not city jobs.”
He also linked the development of sugar estates to improved national security, noting that such projects create massive employment opportunities for young people who might otherwise remain vulnerable to criminal activities and social unrest.
“When you have sugar projects, you don’t have unrest or any security challenge because you create so many jobs for the youths,” he stated.
Bakrin explained that beyond sugar production, the sector offers a major opportunity for rural industrialisation, energy security, infrastructure development, and economic diversification.
On his part, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi
said the Service fully supports the sugar sector transformation agenda, describing the projected energy contribution of the industry as a major national economic opportunity.
“The potential for job creation, security, rural development, and the added value in terms of energy that we can use speaks directly to Nigeria’s economic priorities,” Adeniyi stated.