Emmanuel Efetebore, general manager, Kia African Group says arrangements have been concluded to commence installation of new and refurbish existing equipment at one of the moribund companies in Kwara State, Bacita Sugar Company.
He disclosed this while speaking on plans for the new sugar company, Thursday, in Edu local government area of the state.
The company, initially known as Nigerian Sugar Company Bacita, and later changed to Josepdam Sugar Company Bacita, is now to be called – Bacita Sugar Company.
According to Efetebore, the the Nigerian sugar factory, as with most government enterprises, became unproductive around 1990s, and was privatised in 2006 to the Josepdam Sugar Company, but unfortunately, what appeared to be keyman risk, crystalised in 2011 when the chairman/ chief executive officer of Josepdam Sugar Company passed on.
“The banks pulled the plugs, and in 2016, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) took over and began a process that eventually culminated in why we are here today”.
“The Kia Africa Group is here to wake up this sleeping giant and bring to live the great potential that this Sugar Estate had always represented – a productive and profitable business, facilitating the delivery of sugar sufficiency for Nigeria, a source of foreign exchange earnings, massive job creation for the citizens, and economic rewards for the communities and other stakeholders.
“The opportunity that this project portends, rides on the back of the current level of sugar production in the country and the government’s policy to change this status quo. Several reports on the Nigeria sugar market indicate that we barely produce 2 percent of our sugar consumption. The rest is imported. This, will change,” he explained
He noted that the combination of environmental circumstances that made the location of Bacita Sugar Company the best sugar plane in Nigeria has not changed, from the rainfall to the soil, the terrain, the river, and other factors, saying “the communities have continued to yearn for the awakening of the sleeping industrial giant in their domain and the restoration of the glory that it once bestowed on them.
“With the 30,000 hectares of land, inclusive of 5,600 hectares of developed farmland for sugarcane production, installed milling capacity of 40,000 tons for refined sugar, an ethanol production plant, a new mill and power equipment that are on ground awaiting installation, a pool of skilled and experienced labour waiting to be hired back into action, and support government policy for sugar sufficiency and backward integration, the Bacita Sugar Company is poised to roar back to life as a major player in the industry. The Kia Africa Group will make this happen!.
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“We are set – our technical and financial partners are ready; the KIA Africa team that will drive the process is good to go; the communities are eager, labour is getting excited, and the government is enthusiastically looking forward. I have no iota of doubt, that today, we have started a great thing and with all of your supports, we shall deliver that sugar company that we can all be proud of,” he declared.
A 3-phase approach to the rollout plan he mentioned; phase-1, will run from 2021 all the way into part of 2023.
“Is what we call the resuscitation phase: under this phase, farming activities will commence with land preparation, getting the irrigation system back to life, through to seedling-in the sugarcane and eventual commercial sugarcane production. The total land under sugarcane production in this phase is 5,000Ha.
“Simultaneously, we will commence the installation process for the new processing mill, the refurbishing of existing equipment with useful lives. Under this phase, we will also put the structure together for the out-grower scheme with a target of 5,000 farmers in this first phase.
“The second phase runs from 2023 to 2025– It is known as the – Consolidation Phase: in the next phase, we will consolidate the farm and the refinery – continue the infrastructure development including the processing capacity, expanding the irrigation facility and the farmland, from 5000Ha to 13,000 Ha, full factory setup including milling and refining. The target for us, at the end of this phase, is to have milled at least 176,000MT of sugar per annum.
“Phase 3, goes from 2025 to 2028 – this is the Expansion Phase: after consolidation, in this phase we will scale up operations, bringing capacity utilization to at least 80%. It will also entail further farmland expansion, from 13,000Ha to 21,000Ha. In the 3rd Phase, we would be milling up to 304,000MT.
“We envisage that the company will: By 2027, become a profitable and sustainable business with an estimated revenue of 46.7 billion Naira from farming operations.
Produce an estimated 300,000MT of Sugarcane and refine an estimated 204,000MT. Have an active presence in at least 10 states in Nigeria. Engage at least 20000 farmers in the community
Create at least 22,000 direct and indirect jobs. With this, you can imagine the task ahead of us.”
