Nigeria: Sugar Council Says N9.4 Billion Levy Domiciled With BoI, BOA

Sugar

The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has revealed that it has N9.4 billion sugar levy fund domiciled with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA) for management and lending to players in the sugar sector.

The Executive Secretary of NSDC, Dr. Latif Busari, while reviewing the activities of the council in 2017 and making projections for 2018, further gave a breakdown of the fund.

He said the N10bn management agreement signed by the council with the BOI currently has N5.9bn while the N5bn funds being managed by BOA now has N3.5bn.

He said the funds are being accessed by investors in the sugar value chain, including out-grower farmers and key investors.

The council also revealed that it has reversed downward the 2018 sugar projection for the country to 1.58 million metric tons from 1.6m metric tons initially projected in the sugar master plan.

Dr. Busari also stated that the council, along with relevant monitoring groups, has concluded the review of the backward integration programme implemented by participants adding that a new sugar import quota for participants would be released in January based on the approval of Mr President.