FG, Flour Mills Partner On Sugar Production

Member, Rivers State House of Assembly and House of Representative aspirant for Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency, Hon Aye Atamah Pepple, representing Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi (middle) harvesting plantain during St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Bakana, 2014 adult harvest thanksgiving service recently. Photo: Egberi .A. Sampson

The Minister of Trade and
Investment, Olusegun Aganga has inaugurated a N45 billion integrated, state-of-the-art sugar project  in Sunti, Niger State.
Speaking during the  event,recently at Sunti, the Minister said the accession was a milestone in President Goodluck Joanthan’s transformation agenda.
The project which is wholly owned by the Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) comprises a 16,500 hectare sugarcane estate and mill.
The Tide gathered that the project is part of the ministry’s investment’s approved Backward Integration Programme (BIP) for the production of local sugar in line with the provisions of the National Sugar Masterplan  (NSMP).
Already, the company has invested N16 billion while the entire project is expected to be completed and commissioned before the end of 2016.
According to the Minister, when completed the project is expected to produce  100,000 metric  tones of sugar annually.
He further added that it would also create 15,000 direct and indirect jobs and in addition generate 10 MW of electricity,  produce  animal  feed and fertilizer as by products and save the country over $50 million yearly in foreign exchange.
Aganga noted that the implementation of the NSMP  was an integral part of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).
“Today is another historic day as it represents another milestone in the implementation of the National Sugar Master Plan, an integral part of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution plan of Mr President”, he said.
Aganga said that the government as part of the NIRP has developed the plan as one of the sector-specific policies to diversify  the Nigerian economy.
“Because we are importing about 97 per cent of the sugar we consume in this country when we can produce sugar from sugar cane,  from this process we can produce sugar and generate electricity”, he said.
The chairman Flour Mills Nigeria, plc, John Goumantaros, in his remark, commended the president and minister for initiating and implementing the new sugar policy, even as he said the company would continue to take  advantage of the government’s investment friendly environment.