The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, Kamar Bakrin, has said a fully developed sugar industry can create up to one million jobs and address Nigeria’s security challenges by generating rural employment for youths.

According to a statement made available to The PUNCH on Sunday, Bakrin made the remarks at a strategic meeting between the NSDC and the Nigeria Customs Service at the Customs headquarters in Abuja.

Addressing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, and senior officials of the service, he said the sector could generate 250,000 direct jobs and 750,000 indirect jobs across its value chain in about 12 states.

“If Nigeria succeeds in developing a proper sugar sector, one of the things we would do is convert an annual outflow of over one billion dollars into jobs, security, and industrialisation.

“The sector can create 250,000 direct jobs and an additional indirect 750,000 jobs across its value chain, primarily across about 12 states. The beauty of it is that these are rural jobs, not city jobs,” he said.

He linked the development of sugar estates to improved national security, arguing that large-scale employment of youths would reduce their vulnerability to criminal recruitment.

“When you have sugar projects, you don’t have unrest or any security challenge because you create so many jobs for the youths,” Bakrin said.

He added that sugar estates generate their own electricity independently of the national grid and can supply surplus power for national use.

“A sugar estate provides its own power; it does not rely on the national grid. As a matter of fact, it contributes to the national grid. A sugar estate consumes only about 50 per cent of the energy it produces, while the rest can be injected into the national grid,” he stated.

“And we are talking about 400 megawatts. That is enough to power at least a small modern city or community,” he added.

Bakrin said the successful implementation of the NSMP II would convert over one billion dollars currently spent annually on sugar imports into domestic investments capable of creating jobs, developing rural communities, and strengthening Nigeria’s industrial base.

He disclosed that Nigeria has over one million hectares of land suitable for sugar cultivation, while only about 200,000 hectares would be needed to achieve self-sufficiency.

He said investors considering putting billions of dollars into sugar projects require confidence that approved policies and incentives would be transparently and consistently enforced.

He described the Customs Service as the most critical enforcement institution for the success of the NSMP II, particularly in quota administration, import regulation, fiscal incentives, and anti-smuggling enforcement.

Responding, Adeniyi said the service fully supports the sugar sector transformation agenda and described the industry’s projected energy contribution as a major national economic opportunity.

“The potential for job creation, security, rural development, and the added value in terms of energy that we can use speaks directly to Nigeria’s economic priorities,” he said.

He assured the NSDC of Customs’ readiness to strengthen intelligence sharing, data transparency, quota enforcement, and operational collaboration to ensure the effective implementation of the NSMP II.

Both institutions reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate on five priority areas: market stability, import data transparency, quota allocation, sugar incentives implementation, and anti-smuggling enforcement.

Adeniyi also called for periodic review meetings between both agencies to assess implementation progress and jointly brief President Bola Tinubu on developments within the sector.