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NSDC’s Kamar Bakrin Drives Nigeria’s Sugar Self-Sufficiency

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NSDC’s Kamar Bakrin says greenfield projects and outgrower programmes are key to Nigeria’s sugar self-sufficiency and economic growth

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Kamar Bakrin, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), has said that Nigeria’s greenfield sugar projects and structured outgrower programmes are critical to achieving domestic sugar self-sufficiency.

Also read:  Nigeria Reveals Annual Basic Salaries of Political and Judicial Office Holders

Speaking to Okechukwu Nnodim and select journalists in Abuja, Bakrin highlighted the role of recent Memoranda of Understanding signed with four project promoters.

Each project, he explained, combines large-scale sugarcane cultivation with modern processing facilities and is expected to add roughly 400,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually once fully operational.

The initiatives span the South-West, North-Central, and North-East regions, ensuring broad-based economic benefits, including job creation, infrastructure development, and enterprise growth.

Bakrin noted that GNAL Sugar, promoted by the Lee Group in Taraba State, is progressing steadily.

Taraba’s extensive land availability, reliable water resources, favourable agro-climatic conditions, and government support made it a prime choice for the project.

“We are taking a deliberate, structured approach to ensure long-term viability,” he said.

To support the greenfield projects, NSDC has established dedicated seedcane farms and deployed pre-sprouted bud chip technology via the Nigeria Sugar Institute.

This strategy shortens development cycles, reduces costs, and ensures a consistent supply of quality planting materials.

Bakrin emphasised that the Institute has been repositioned as a national centre of excellence, providing research, training, and technical support to all industry players.

The Sugarcane Outgrower Development Programme (SODP) has also attracted strong interest, Bakrin said.

The programme links farmers directly to licensed processors, offering guaranteed offtake, quality inputs, and technical support.

“This integrated approach reduces risk, boosts productivity, and builds confidence across the sugar value chain,” he added.

Bakrin further highlighted NSDC’s $1bn partnership with SINOMACH as a transformative investment for Nigeria’s sugar industry.

The deal is projected to bring 75,000 hectares under cultivation, produce up to 500,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually, and add 50,000 tonnes-per-day in factory processing capacity.

The initiative is designed to reduce imports, conserve foreign exchange, and create large-scale employment.

“Ambitions of this scale require discipline, sequencing, and rigorous execution,” Bakrin said.

Also read: Gbenga Daniel Praises Nigeria’s Economic Recovery Under Tinubu

“We have laid the groundwork, aligned stakeholders, and established institutional coordination to ensure these projects transition decisively from planning to execution.”

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Cement costs more in Nigeria than Kenya, Togo, FCCPC finds

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Cement price manipulation is under investigation by the FCCPC after a three-month study found Nigerian prices were high despite surplus capacity

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Heirs Life Names Pastor Jerry Eze Independent Non-Executive Director

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Heirs Life appoints Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director to strengthen financial inclusion, consumer trust and insurance adoption (more…)

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Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

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Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

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