NSDC partners NEXIM Bank to scale sugar project financing

By Babajide Komolafe

The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank) have commenced a strategic partnership to mobilise long-term financing for the large-scale transformation of Nigeria’s sugar industry.

The collaboration, agreed at a meeting in Abuja, will adopt the Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Financing (EPC+F) model to fund viable sugar projects. Under the framework, NSDC will originate and develop policy-aligned, bankable projects and support equity mobilisation, while NEXIM will anchor capital mobilisation by facilitating access to international Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), coordinating syndication with Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), supporting foreign input financing, and providing guarantees and risk insurance.

NSDC Executive Secretary/CEO, Mr. Kamar Bakrin, highlighted the sector’s vast potential, noting that Nigeria’s sugar market is valued at about $2 billion, while Africa’s market stands at $7 billion. Sugar by-products in Nigeria alone exceed $10 billion in market value.

He stressed that achieving self-sufficiency requires patient, long-tenor financing deployed at scale. Nigeria, he added, is well positioned to serve domestic and regional markets under AfCFTA if appropriately priced, long-term capital is deployed to scale production.

Bakrin disclosed that the EPC+F model is already being implemented through a partnership with SINOMACH, under which up to $1 billion financing has been structured at SOFR plus three per cent, with a 15-year tenor and three-year moratorium. The initiative is projected to generate annual foreign exchange savings of about $300 million, create over 50,000 jobs, and achieve up to 25 per cent import substitution within five to ten years.

To de-risk investments, NSDC is working to codify the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan into law to ensure policy continuity, while strengthening enforcement to curb smuggling. Projects are structured to integrate smallholder farmers through outgrower schemes and prioritise host community participation, alongside environmentally sustainable practices such as ethanol and bioelectricity production.

Responding, NEXIM Managing Director, Mr. Abba Bello, welcomed the initiative, describing the sugar sector as “a critical pillar in Nigeria’s drive for economic diversification and non-oil export expansion.”

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