By PROVIDENCE OBUH

The Federal Government has said that it is committed to supporting sugar production in the country by providing the enabling environment in order to ensure economic growth and development.

Speaking during a facility tour of  Bua Sugar Refinery, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga commended the company for increased investments and commitment towards making Nigeria self-sufficient in sugar production, saying that it will provide special incentives for investors in the sugar industry, especially those that have keyed into government’s Backward Integration Policy in the sector.

Aganga noted that the incentives would be similar to what was given to investors who had keyed into government’s Backward Integration Policy in the cement industry, adding that the move will help the country achieve self sufficiency in sugar production for both domestic consumption and export.

He said, “We are fully aware that the processes of optimising the whole value chain in terms of moving from sugarcane to sugar take quite some time and require huge investment. That is why we have asked the operators of sugar refineries to provide us with their strategic and detailed action plans on backward integration in terms of what they want to do in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. In addition, we want to see the practical demonstration of their commitment to the implementation of the policy.

“So, based on their demonstration of commitment to those things in their backward integration plans as it relates to moving from sugar cane to sugar production, we will give them special incentives. This is similar to what we did during the implementation of the Backward Integration Policy in the cement sector until we got to the point where we saw a significant increase in local cement production and we tied importation to production to bridge gap between supply and demand.

“By so doing, local production increased and importation was reduced drastically. That was how we were able to move from a country that was producing about two million metric tons of cement to one that has the capacity to produce 28.6 million metric tons of cement. It is the same principle and approach that we want to apply in the sugar sector.”

Chief Operating Officer of BUA Group, Mr. Chimaobi Madukwe said that the minister’s visit to BUA Group is an indication of government’s support for industrial groups in Nigeria, through the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) and other relevant agencies.

Madukwe said, “We recently launched another backward integration scheme with the acquisition of 100,000 hectares of land in Kogi State for the commencement of another sugarcane plantation before the end of the year” This will process 10,000,000 tons of cane to produce 1,000,000 metric tones of refined sugar annually. This second plantation will assist in further boosting the sugar production of the group and enhance employment, and open up opportunities for ancillary industries.”

Executive Director, Bua Sugar Refinery Mr. Siva Kuma, , noted that with more favourable industrial policies couple with our well equipped refinery which meets world’s standard and food safety, BUA can increase production from the current 95 per cent to 100 per cent capacity and even expand to other States as well as create more jobs for Nigerians.