Gov Bago signs $5bn MoU to boost economy

Governor Muhammed Bago of Niger State has announced the signing of a $5 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Niger Foods and Uttam Sucrotech International Ltd., a consortium of Brazilian and Indian sugar value chain experts.

The agreement was finalized on November 20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The ambitious project aims to develop 250,000 hectares of sugarcane fields and establish six sugar and ethanol plants across the state over the next three years. Governor Bago highlighted that the initiative aligns with his administration’s Green Economy program, which focuses on food security and industrialization through large-scale agriculture.

Additionally, the partnership between Niger Foods and the Nigeria Sugar Council is set to rejuvenate Nigeria’s sugar industry, which has an estimated value of $2.5 billion.

“This landmark agreement will not only transform Niger State’s economy but also position it as a hub for sustainable agricultural and industrial growth,” the governor stated.

“The five billion dollars investment is not just for Niger but for the whole country.

“It means Niger State is going to have a lot of fields that are going to be producing sugar cane and other very important and agricultural products.

“It’s going to create employments for the youth, and increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product. It’s going to create foreign exchange for the country,” said the governor.

According to Bago, the programme represented hope for agriculture in the country, a pilot project for agricultural transformation in the country as a whole.

He said to translate the programme to reality, it was imperative to partner with countries that had the experience and technical knowledge such as Brazil and India.

“The Brazilians and Indians are not coming to take our raw materials, they are coming to set up plants. In these plants, they’ll produce not just sugar, they’ll produce ethanol, bagasse and molasses,” Bago said.

He added that the project would boost electricity generation in the country as 600 megawatts would be established for the use of the plants, which would be scaled up to 1,000 megawatts.

“You can imagine what that will do to industrialisation. This is going to change a lot of things for our country. It’s going to take us forward, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu administration,” Bago stated.

Mr Marco Castellani, Head, Latam & International Marketing, Niger Food and Uttam Sucrotech International Ltd., said his company would replicate the Brazilian know-how to produce sugar, ethanol, and other bio products using sugar cane as feedstock.

We have the support of the Niger State Government, “This is very important, because we need policies to put this plant together, run the plant, and deliver food and bioproducts that Nigeria needs.

“We are ready for take-off. We have already started work a couple of months ago. We want to bring the best Brazilians and Indians together to establish the plants, and to bring development for Africa.”

Also, Mr Kamar Bakrin, Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Sugar Council, said the Niger Farms project would harness about 90,000 hectares on the shoulder of the recently flagged off Sokoto – Lagos Super Highway to produce 2.5 MT of sugar, 250m litres of Ethanol and generate 300 MW of electricity.

Bakrin said this would also create 100,000 direct jobs, 250,000 indirect jobs aside the projected 750,000 out grower participants.

The five billion dollars deal was hailed by Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and others, who witnessed the signing of the MoU between Niger Foods and the Brazilian company.

Tuggar praised the Niger government for its private sector approach to the development of agriculture through the creation of Niger Foods.

He also praised Bago for the choice of the two leading sugar producers in the world with speciality in large scale cultivation (Brazil) and structured small scale outgrower programme (India).

Sen. Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, expressed the support of the Ministry to Niger in its quest for large scale mechanised and integrated agriculture.

Kyari said the development of the sugar value chain would give birth to a vibrant livestock industry in Niger and the mixed cropping of sugar with soybean would ensure massive foreign exchange earnings.