The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, Mr Zacch Adedeji, has said the Federal Government is committed to using the sugar master plan to reduce poverty and unemployment in the country.
Adedeji stated this during the groundbreaking of N300bn Brent Sugar Plantation and Mill on Tuesday in Iseyin, Oyo State.
The Brent Sugar Plantation and Mill is sited on 11,000 hectares of land along Iseyin-Ogbomoso road.
About 6,000 hectares will be irrigated from a canal to be fed by water Ikere Gorge Dam established by the Federal Government in 1983.
Adedeji said that the investment by Brent Sugar was a demonstration by the federal government toward building a productive country.
He said the government must do everything to get the private sector to venture into projects that will lift Nigerians, particularly the youths, out of poverty.
He said, “One of the major tools that we have and which can help us take the youths out of poverty is the sugarcane-based industries.
“We must commend Brent Sugar Limited for deeming it fit to establish this kind of project in this environment. This is not only for Oyo State but for Nigeria.
“The mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari is that we must eat what we grow and grow what we eat. This is one practical,” he said.
The President, African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, who was represented by the bank’s Senior Special Assistant on Industrialisation, Professor Oyebanji Oyelahan, said that the establishment of Brent Sugar is a path to industrialisation and economic prosperity.
He urged the people to cooperate with the company, saying there was a lot to benefit as a community and a nation.
The Chief Executive Officer, Brent Sugar Limited, Mr Martins Akinola, said the total investment that would be committed to the project was about N300bn over a period of five years.
“For the sugarcane plantation, the company is investing nothing less than N120bn for the 11, 000 hectares that we are going to plant. We are going to phase it on a yearly basis.”
