By Chinyere Anyanwu
The Niger State government is set to resuscitate its moribund sugar company with the cultivation of sugarcane on 90,000 hectares of arable land.
Part of the land for the project will be along the Sokoto-Lagos Super Highway where it will pass through Niger State.
The state Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, said in a statement released at the weekend by his Special Adviser on Digital Media and Strategy, Alhaji Abdullberqy Ebbo, that the revival of the sugar company would cost about $2.5 billion.
“This initiative is another bold step to promote food security and rural industrialisation of Nigeria which will also boost agricultural production and translate to better economy for all,” Bago said in the statement.
He added that the project is also envisaged to create 100,000 direct Jobs and 250,000 indirect jobs apart from the projected 750,000 outgrowers.
The governor disclosed that during a side event at the recently concluded G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Niger Food also signed a deal with Uttam Sucrotech (a consortium comprising leading Brazil and India sugar value chain experts) to develop 250,000 hectares of sugarcane fields and six sugar/ethanol plants in Niger State over the next three years.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tugar, was quoted in the statement as praising the Niger State government for its private sector approach to the development of agriculture through the creation of Niger Foods and also for the strategic choice of the two leading sugar producers in the world with specialty for large scale cultivation (Brazil) and structured small scale outgrower programme (India).