Sunday Ehigiator
Nigeria has taken a significant step towards achieving its target of producing two million metric tonnes (MT) of sugar annually as the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) graduated the first cohort of specialists trained under its flagship residential capacity-building programme designed to drive the implementation of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) 2.0.
The landmark programme, held at the Nigeria Sugar Institute (NSI) in Ilorin, is aimed at developing a highly skilled workforce capable of improving efficiency across Nigeria’s sugar value chain, from sugarcane cultivation to industrial processing, as the country intensifies efforts to reduce dependence on sugar imports.
Speaking at the graduation of the pioneer cohort, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the NSDC, Kamar Bakrin, said the future of Nigeria’s sugar industry depends on building professionals with the technical expertise to improve both farm productivity and factory efficiency.
According to him, the National Sugar Master Plan 2.0 places strong emphasis on strengthening critical areas such as land preparation, irrigation, high-yield seed cane production and factory operations to transform the sector into a profitable and sustainable industry.
“Neither field productivity nor factory efficiency, on its own, can move the needle greatly. True sustainability, and the ultimate elimination of our import dependency, demands that we fuse the two. Under the performance-driven framework of NSMP 2.0, we are holding operators to strict accountability,” Bakrin said.
