By Ladidi Gbegi 

Executive Secretary/CEO National Sugar Development Council , NSDC,  Mr. Kamar Bakrin, has assured his administration’s commitment of reaching 2 million metric tonnes of sugar production by 2032.

Bakrin, who gave the assurance during an interview with “Industry Tracker”, a publication of the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria ,CICAN, at the weekend in Abuja, noted 

 the ongoing reforms by the Council and expansion plans by operators will make thousands of jobs available for Nigerians very soon.

He said the objective is part of broader national efforts to boost local sugar production, reduce import dependency, and enhance the agricultural sector’s contribution to the economy.

According to him, “The pursuit of self-sufficiency in sugar production, as the most important element of NSMP II, remains the priority of the Council, adding that 2 million metric tonnes by 2032 is the utmost destination”.

The Executive Secretary said based on the mandate and new targets given to the major sugar operators by the Council, they have embarked on an aggressive expansion that will create high-paying jobs for Nigerians in the coming months. 

“You are going to see a lot of employment because each of the sugar operators have very aggressive expansion plans which we have seen and we have also engaged them on what they need to do.

“You will see a lot more economic activity. You know, both in terms of logistics and so on and so forth, a lot is going on in the sugar producing estates, and it will translate into jobs for the local communities, for suppliers, for contractors and all of that, because everybody is now scrambling to move. 

They are laying irrigation pipes, they are completing other infrastructure, they are expanding their factories and rehabilitating them and so on and so forth. So, you see a lot of that. Of course, we will still continue to import sugar for some time. 

I told you it has quite a significant gestation period, but at least, we will see those benefits very soon. And you know, there is nothing better than employment. I can sit down and promise you we will crash the price of sugar and all that. But jobs are the real things. 

“I am talking about thousands of jobs. These are good quality jobs. Some of them are factory jobs. Yes, some of them are farm jobs, some of them are seasonal. But there are quite a number of factory jobs that will be created that are sustainable. And the economic impact on that is going to be very significant”, he said. 

Mr. Bakrin emphasised the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing community hostility, a long-standing challenge in the sugar industry.

He highlighted key strategies incorporated into the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan ,NSMP, II to ensure community acceptance. These include educating communities about the economic benefits of sugar production, allocating a portion of capital for community development projects, and mandating sugar companies to recruit local residents for various positions, thereby fostering greater community involvement and engagement.

“We are mandating a specified amount of capital that must be dedicated to community development, roads, schools, clinics, whatever makes sense for that community.

“We are also mandating a certain amount of recruitment that must come from the host communities, as well as the catchment areas for both field operatives, junior staff and workers, and so on, as well as for managerial staff.

“And we have already engaged the operators around this and we have gotten their buy-in.

“We are also insisting that a certain quantity of the sugar produced must be by outgrowers sourced from the local communities.

“On top of all of these, we are also creating within the council, essentially a directorate level stakeholder management department that is going to be directly responsible for stakeholder management. So, this is both in terms of host communities as well as inter-governmental engagements. 

I mean, other government agencies and departments, ensuring that we are able to bring them on board and provide a one-stop shop solution to the challenges sugar operators are facing. Engaging state governments is also part of it. 

“This we have already started, by the way, where we have gotten a lot of very good engagement with the governors of the host states. I think we have met with all governors of states in which we are active. 

We have met with all the governors such as Nasarawa State, Adamawa State, Kwara State and Niger State. We have had very fruitful discussions. We have gotten their commitments. 

Not only are they giving verbal commitments, they have actually delivered. So, for example, one of the operators had an issue with 2,000 hectare piece of land, which the host community was denying them access to develop and plant cane there. 

We met with the governor, we explained to him what we are doing and so on and so forth, and he set up a committee and that has been resolved. That land has now been handed over to the operator to develop”, the NSDC boss explained.

In addition to the expansion plans of existing sugar producers, he said the NSDC had identified 14 new “greenfield” sites with high viability for sugar production. 

“To these existing sites, the NSDC has identified 14 greenfield sites, ranging in size from 6,000 to 18,000 hectares, across the sugarcane belt. These sites have not been previously cultivated and require further evaluation to determine their full viability”, he noted.

From Rotimi Asher,  Lagos 

Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ,FAAN,  Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku has assured airlines and travellers that flight disruptions and delays have become a thing of the past since the international runway, known as Runway 18R became operational.

The runway, which was put into service in February after it was closed for rehabilitation, has become functional with all the necessary facilities. 

Kuku said under her watch, no expense has been spared to ensure the safety of personnel and assets, as well as maintenance and upgrade of airport infrastructure.

She disclosed that airlines on international operations from Lagos have recorded improved on-time performance since the runway was put in use.

Kuku assured the travelling public of their safety, security and comfort, adding that contrary to some reports, the runway has been operating efficiently. 

“As the incident commander of FAAN, safety as a unit has a General Manager who reports directly to me. We have put measures in place such that any issues that could potentially render a runway unserviceable are taken very seriously and acted on immediately. 

“Our officers regularly carry out runway inspections, keep maintenance schedules and ensure all safety protocols are meticulously followed to ensure that all runways meet the global standards for safe aircraft operations.

“It is essential to note that the FAAN is bound by strict regulatory frameworks, national and international, that dictate the conditions under which a runway can be deemed unserviceable. Runway serviceability inspections are conducted regularly, and any discrepancies are promptly addressed to maintain the operational integrity of the airfield”,the FAAM boss said.

By Charles Ebi 

Value of Nigeria’s crude oil export earnings increased by 50.2% in the first quarter of 2024 to N15.4 trillion, according to data from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics ,NBS.

The earnings quoted in naira showed a rise from N10.3 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023 to N15.4 trillion in Q1 2024.

During the same period, the data highlighted that 88% of Nigeria’s exports to other nations were earnings from crude oil, emphasizing once again the predominant role of oil as the primary exported commodity and main source of foreign exchange for the country.

The total exports of Nigeria in the first quarter of 2024 rose by 51% to N19.1 trillion compared to N12.6 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023. On a year-to-year basis, the total export increased by 95.47% from N6.4 trillion.

The oil sector, the major contributor to Nigeria’s total exports, made up 88% of the total exports.

Crude oil exports were valued at N15.4 trillion while non-crude oil exports were valued at N3.6 trillion.

However, the non-oil commodities were valued at N1.7 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The data also showed a slight improvement in the Naira value of the total non-oil export from N1.09 trillion in Q4 2023 to N1.7 trillion in Q1, 2024.

A critical factor that also drove the increase in crude oil exports was the depreciation of the naira in early 2024.

In Nigeria, the official exchange rate depreciated to N1,309/$1 in March, marking a 64% depreciation in 2024.

Meanwhile, crude oil output from Nigeria has not seen significant growth since the year began. According to OPEC data from March 2024, Nigeria’s crude oil output stood at 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd).

Moreover, the price of crude oil has remained relatively stable, hovering between $79 and $81 throughout the captured period.

Therefore, despite the lack of substantial growth in Nigeria’s crude oil output, the currency gains resulting from the naira devaluation may have contributed to increased earnings from oil exports in the first quarter of 2024.

Crude oil production in Nigeria has increased marginally in the last year but has failed to reach the high of 2 million barrels produced around 2019.

Factors responsible for this include; insecurity and oil theft in the Niger Delta, low investment in oil exploration, and maturing oil fields amongst others.

In 2024, the federal government estimated a total of 1.78 million barrels of crude oil per day.

However, the country has yet to meet its OPEC quota of 1.5 million bpd, producing in the range of 1.2 million bpd since the beginning of the year. 

Meanwhile, in March, President Tinubu signed a raft of executive orders meant to attract investment into the oil and gas industry to boost production. Furthermore, the President has mandated security agencies to bring an end to the spate of oil theft in the Niger Delta region.

Also, the President mandated the relevant agencies to fast-track the approval of divestment plans by oil majors which has stalled investment in exploration and new production fields.

By Yahaya Umar 

State governments have raised concerns over the Federal Government’s use of foreign loans to fund grants and subsidies for private investors involved in rural electrification programs.

This is according to the Development of the National Integrated Electricity Policy & Strategic Implementation Plan: Policy Recommendations by State Governments to the Federal Ministry of Power document from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

The state governments criticize the Rural Electrification Programs as a “Sovereign Debt Trap” for Nigeria.

The document noted that the Federal Government has borrowed at least $1.3 billion from the World Bank and African Development Bank ,AfDB, since 2018.

Under the Nigeria Electrification Project ,NEP, the Federal Government, through the Rural Electrification Agency ,REA, secured financing of $350 million from the World Bank and $200 million from AfDB.

In December 2023, a further loan of $750 million was secured from the World Bank under the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up ,DARES, program.

It also noted that additional borrowings from the Central Bank of Nigeria ,CBN, were used to finance renewable energy projects in healthcare centres during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document read: “The loans from the World Bank & AfDB have been used to provide grants and subsidies to private sector developers to catalyse private sector investments in rural electrification projects. 

Under the NEP, the REA provided capital grants of US$600/per new connection to private sector mini-grid developers. The total PV capacity of renewable energy installed under the NEP is 16.3MW ,REA website, with the bulk of supply to largely Tier 1 & 2 customers. 

Tier 1 refers to four hours of electricity with capacity to run a few light bulbs and charge a phone. Under the NEP, Nigeria has the highest deployment of pay-as-you-go ,PAYGo,  standalone solar home systems ,SHS, in the world. These SHS systems are not manufactured in Nigeria and are imported.

“States are concerned about the increasing reliance on sovereign debt by the REA to finance rural electrification projects and the unsustainability of these foreign loans to Nigeria. 

As stated earlier, these sovereign loans are disbursed as grants or subsidies to private sector developers who fund mini-grids or deploy SHS in rural communities. 

To demonstrate the unsustainability of the debts, the total revenues over 20 years from the projects funded under the NEP cannot repay the interest component on the USD$350million loan provided by the World Bank. 

States also note with concern that even with the grants and subsidies to private developers, mini-grid tariffs and SHS pay-as-you-go tariffs are higher than Band A tariffs”.

State governments stated that they are troubled by the growing dependence on sovereign debt to finance rural electrification projects.  The states recommend that the REA should reduce and eventually cease the use of foreign loans for grants and subsidies to private developers.

According to the document: “States recommend that the REA should scale down and eventually cease the use of foreign loans to provide grants and subsidies to private developers and investors. 

Rather, the REA, in collaboration with States should design and adopt a more holistic approach to provide sustainable public sector financing for rural electrification programs like the Kenyan and Indian Governments did.

“In general, the use of grants and subsidies funded from public resources to incentivize private investors to develop mini grids in rural communities and deploy SHS on a PAYGo basis should be discouraged by the Federal Government.

“Rather, the FG and States should collaborate to create the right legal, policy & regulatory framework and broad fiscal incentives that would support more private capital and also unlock long term local currency financing for project developers in rural electrification in a sustainable manner”.

The House of Representatives recently mandated its Committee on Renewable Energy to investigate various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies ,MDAs, involved in the investment, procurement, and receipt of grants aimed at developing the renewable energy sector in Nigeria.

This investigation, covering the period from 2015, is to be completed within four weeks, with a report submitted to the House for further legislative action. The lawmakers argued that despite attracting over $2 billion in renewable energy investments in the past decade, as reported by the Rural Electrification Agency in 2023, there has been no noticeable improvement in the sector.

Earlier, Nairametrics exclusively reported that the Federal Government plans to provide subsidy to developers and operators of solar mini-grids in unserved and underserved areas in the country. The subsidy will be provided through a World Bank approved loan of $750 million under the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up ,DARES, project.