By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief

ABUJA — The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has invested N26 billion in Sunti Golden Sugar factory in Niger State and plans more investments in the real sectors of the economy.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, announced this during a tour of the newly completed factory, weekend.

“The bank has invested about N26 billion in the project of such magnitude in order to encourage import substitution and backward integration strategy,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by the bank in Abuja, yesterday.

Emefiele assured that the apex bank was prepared to cooperate with genuine investors to support them towards self-sufficiency in local production of essential goods and the economic diversification drive of the present administration.

According to the CBN boss, such investments would be geared towards employment generation and wealth creation.  He, therefore, urged smallholder sugar cane farmers in the area to leverage on the presence of the factory to boost their    production, as the company would now buy all their produce.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Flour Mill of Nigeria Group,  owners  of  Sunti  Golden Sugar Company,  Mr. John Coumantaros, appreciated what he described as “the uncommon  support,” which the CBN gave to company, without which the project wouldn’t have been completed on schedule.

The chairman noted that the N45 billion sugar-refining project was expected to create over 15,000 jobs.