Abuja, Nigeria — The National Sugar Development Council and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank have agreed to pursue a long-term financing partnership aimed at transforming Nigeria’s sugar industry through large-scale, development-focused investments.
Okay News reports that the collaboration was discussed at a meeting in Abuja, where the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of NSDC, Mr Kamar Bakrin, proposed an Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Financing model to fund viable sugar projects promoted by the council.
Under the proposed structure, NSDC will originate and develop bankable, policy-aligned projects and facilitate equity mobilisation, while NEXIM Bank will lead capital mobilisation by providing access to international Export Credit Agencies, coordinating syndication with Development Finance Institutions, supporting foreign input financing, and offering risk mitigation tools such as guarantees and commercial risk insurance.
Bakrin said Nigeria’s sugar market is valued at about 2 billion dollars, while the broader African market is estimated at roughly 7 billion dollars. He added that sugar by-products represent a market exceeding 10 billion dollars in Nigeria alone. According to him, achieving self-sufficiency requires patient, long-tenor financing backed by policy certainty rather than short-term capital.
He disclosed that the Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Financing model is already being implemented through a partnership with SINOMACH, under which financing of up to 1 billion dollars has been structured at Secured Overnight Financing Rate plus three per cent, with a 15-year tenor and a three-year moratorium. The model is projected to generate annual foreign exchange savings of about 300 million dollars, create more than 50,000 jobs, and deliver up to 25 per cent import substitution within five to ten years.
Bakrin added that efforts are underway to codify the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan into law to strengthen policy continuity, while enforcement measures are being intensified to curb smuggling.
NEXIM Managing Director, Mr Abba Bello, described the sugar industry as strategic to Nigeria’s economic diversification and export growth, reaffirming the bank’s readiness to support structured, export-oriented and import substitution projects aligned with national priorities.
