Dangote group is building a Sugar refinery in Nasarawa State Of Northern Nigeria. The sugar plant will produce 450, 000 metric tons of sugar yearly, as well as 90 megawatts of power yearly when completed.

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule made this known at the Northern region sugar sensitization workshop organized by the National Sugar Development Council which was held in Lafia, the state capital on Thursday.

Governor Sule revealed that the Sugar plant will use just 45 megawatts for operations while the remaining 45 megawatts will be used in powering Lafia and three other local government area.

The Governor clarified that the Tunga Sugar Plant was facing delay in completion due to the challenges the sugar industry is facing in Nigeria. He stated the sugar industry will face poor growth unless the challenges are addressed.

The Governor added that fundamental value chain in the industry is lost due to the poor financing in the agricultural sector.

“The masterplan for Tunga sugar plantation started 7 years ago, but we have not gone more than 7 percent. We are supposed to be at 70 percent by now. And the reason is simple. The challenges are enormous, we are used to refineries in Nigeria. But with the refineries, you lose all the opportunities of the value chain. You lose the opportunity of the greatest of all, employment opportunities,” he said.

The Governor also spoke on the challenges posed by the land tenure system. he said the system makes it difficult for investors to acquire land.

“Sugar industry has an excellent formula of what we call out grower. They can take land from a farmer, and give it back to the farmer and also guarantee buying of this product so that at the end of the day, it’s the same sugar industry that is growing,” he said.

The governor commended the organizers of the workshop stating that it affords the people the opportunity to understand more about the sugar industry.

Culled from thenationonlineng.net