BoI pledges to support local sugar industry

 Going by the Federal Government’s plan to diversify the Nigerian economy away from petroleum products, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has resolved to inject more funds into Nigeria’s sugar sub-sector as part of efforts to promote the local industry, which has attracted almost $3 billion investment in the last three years.

It will be recalled that Olusegun Aganga, former minister of industry, trade and investment, had during his exclusive interview with BusinessDay earlier this year, said that Nigeria imported 97 percent of sugar she consumed, a situation that prompted  the Federal Government to open up the local industry under the ‘Sugarcane to Sugar Project’.

The BoI, having resolved to ensure that Nigeria embraces commodity-based industrialisation that will cut spending on imported goods and reduce pressure on foreign exchange and balance of payment, established partnership with the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, on sugarcane production and processing.

Speaking at a workshop on sugarcane production and processing tagged, ‘Maximising the Sugarcane Value Chain in Nigeria’, which was organised by FUNAAB for farmers under Ogun State Agricultural Development Project (OGADEP), Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director, BoI, disclosed that the bank would sponsor new credit proposals aimed at promoting sugarcane production and processing.

Olaoluwa, who was represented by Raymond Adenuga, Bank of Industry Lagos State officer, declared that the bank was ready to promote maximisation of the entire value chain in sugarcane production and processing for national economic rejuvenation, through the provision of funds at a single-digit interest rate to all farmers and investors in the Nigeria’s sugar industry.

Olaoluwa said the development bank was desirous of developing a paper that would recommend the financing of the production and processing of sugarcane at not more than nine percent interest rate per annum, while urging the farmers to form themselves into cooperative groups and register joint business ventures in order to optimally benefit from the funds.

He reiterated the need for proper record-keeping by farmers as well as the importance of transacting and undertaking financial activities through commercial banks so as to be eligible for credit facilities from the bank, just as he clarified that the BoI does not give loans to private individuals, but only recognises corporate bodies and joint businesses.

Speaking earlier, Victor Olowe, professor and director, Agricultural Media Resources and Extension Centre in FUNAAB, Alabata-Abeokuta main campus, stated that the training was timely considering the fact that the retardation in the production capacity of sugar in Nigeria had started generating concern on whether it could meet the needs of the growing population.

Olowe, who spoke among the representatives of partners, including Lafarge Africa Plc; Centre for Sugarcane Value Chain Research and Development of Calvary College of Technology, Papalanto; Ogun State Agricultural Development Project (OGADEP); All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), however, pledged the commitment of the partners in driving development of sugarcane value-chain in accordance with Federal Government’s policy on sugar production.