Buhari Launches $73m Sugar Infrastructure Intervention Plan
By Rahma Olamide Oladosu

President Muhammadu Buhari has launched a $73 Million Infrastructure Intervention Plan to drive growth in the sugar sector.

President Buhari said the launch was in line with his determination to diversify the nation’s economy through the formulation of favourable policies, provision of technical support, creation of a business-friendly environment and provision of incentives to attract more investments into the sector.

Speaking at the formal commissioning of the sugar infrastructure intervention programme titled, “Presidential Intervention On Irrigation Infrastructure to Accelerate Sugar Backward Integration Programme Projects”, at the State House, Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari said the goal of the intervention was to “support the development of irrigation infrastructure on 10,000 hectares of sugar plantations located at six BIP sites, namely; Numan, Adamawa state; Sunti, Niger state; Lafiagi and Bacita, Kwara state; Toto and Tunga, in Nasarawa state.”

President Buhari who was represented at the event by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, further stated that aim of the intervention was to “significantly improve the country’s performance on cane yields as well as reduce the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the industry’s progress in achieving self-sufficiency.”

“Consequently, this strategic intervention will enable the country’s leading sugar producers – Dangote, BUA and Flour Mills – expand capacity and capitalize on the import substitution opportunity within the sugar market to further reduce the country’s import bill,” he added.

On the importance of the intervention to Nigeria’s economy, Nigerians and investors in the sugar sector, President Buhari noted that “the implementation structure considered enhancing rural jobs and hence the recommendation that 10% of the total allocation to each BIP operator would be reserved for Sugarcane outgrower farmers within the community.

“This is strategic, humane and sustainable in the thought process and I am certain that local communities will find this inclusive which is an effective approach to project implementation’, he concluded.

According to the Executive Secretary, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Zacch Adedeji , “preliminary activities, including identification of the specific project sites for each operator which include framework for design and engineering services for the in-field and bulk water supply systems, project management and maintenance specifications, adoption of a business model and costing, among others, have been concluded long before the formal commissioning of this laudable initiative. ”

Adedeji, who was quoted in a press statement by the agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Abdullahi Yunusa, said the intervention was part of government’s determination to provide an enabling environment for private investments to thrive and flourish in the country.