Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has announced that Nigeria’s sugar independence would end by 2026 when the firm would have completed its N64 billion Sunti Sugar plant.
Chairman, Flour Mills of Nigeria, John Coumantaros, said in seven years, the country would be able to produce the 1.3 billion tons sugar it consumes annually.
The Sunti Sugar plant and farm sit on about 17,000 hectares, which the company intends to develop so that it would produce the annual target.
Coumantaros said about 10,000 direct and 50,000 indirect jobs would also be created by the sugar factory. The Sunti Sugar plant and farm is located at Mokwa, Niger State.
The FMN boss added that the host community would be financially supported with N34 billion in the next 10 years.
“We will be spending about N34 billion over the next 10 years in support of the community and development of infrastructure in the area, this is very important, we have huge expenditure coming to the host community, creating jobs, education and building the economy in which people can make their livelihood.
[READ MORE: Dangote Sugar Refinery in Tunga to produce 450,000 MT)
“We will be having about 10,000 employees and another 50,000 indirect jobs around the area. We have employed about 5,000 people, we have got five community schools and working on fixing electricity in the area as there is no future without development.
“This is revolutionising and dramatically changing not only the Mokwa community but Niger State because this is one of the biggest investments in the state.”
On the industry investments, Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group, explained that more investment could be made in the industry, if challenges like land and weather facing operators are addressed.
He said, “In the next couple of years, we will be able to produce most of the sugar that we consume in Nigeria. We can do the same trajectory we had in the cement industry, though sugar is a little bit more difficult because you have to deal with the weather, quality of the land, the irrigation, quite a lot of things that is not the same in cement.”
