(L-R) The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, the Group Executive Director of BUA Foods, Alhaji Kabir Rabiu, and its Managing Director, Engr. Ayodele Abioye, during the Minister’s inspection visit to the Lafiagi Sugar Company (LASUCO).
By Felix Khanoba
The Federal Government has stepped up efforts to reform Nigeria’s sugar industry with the commencement of strategic project inspections by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh.
The inspections began with a visit to the Lafiagi Sugar Company (LASUCO) in Kwara State and are aligned with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to relevant officials to fast-track Nigeria’s drive toward self-sufficiency in sugar production.
During the visit, the Minister conducted an extensive tour of LASUCO’s integrated sugar complex, covering its sugar mill, ethanol plant, power facilities, irrigation systems and more than 700 hectares of cultivated sugarcane.
The BUA Group-owned project is structured as a 10,000-tonne-per-day sugar mill and, when fully operational, is expected to produce up to 220,000 metric tonnes of refined sugar annually.
Commending the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin, for his role in motivating and supervising Backward Integration Programme (BIP) operators, the Minister observed that the level of infrastructure, investment scale and project development at LASUCO demonstrate a clear commitment to the objectives of the programme.
He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had tasked him, in collaboration with the NSDC leadership who accompanied him on the tour, to ensure operators transition from planning stages to full-scale production.
While recognising the progress recorded at the Lafiagi project, the Minister underscored the need to speed up sugarcane cultivation to align with factory capacity, stressing that expanded farming activities are essential for complete operational readiness.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s resolve to maintain continuous engagement with credible investors, traditional rulers and host communities as Nigeria intensifies efforts to revitalise the sugar sector, conserve foreign exchange, generate employment and strengthen industrial value chains.
