The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has congratulated Oyo Sugar and Derivatives Industries Limited (OSDL) on reaching the commissioning and test-running stage of its factory in Iseyin, Oyo State, describing the milestone as the culmination of more than a decade of financial, technical and institutional support.

The 300-tonnes-per-day (TCD) greenfield sugar mill, developed under the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP), is one of the few new-build sugar factories to emerge from the plan’s Backward Integration Programme.

The Council commended the promoters and farming communities in Iseyin for taking the project from a cooperative farming venture to an operational factory.

The NSDC funded the procurement of the factory’s core 300 TCD sugar mill at a cost of approximately N1.64 billion and subsequently provided additional funding for cane development and operational support, bringing its total financial commitment to about N2.2 billion.

The Oyo State Government contributed an estimated N850 million in equity funding towards the completion of outstanding works.

The Council said the factory’s readiness for commissioning was the result of sustained commitment by the NSDC, Oyo State Government and the promoters.

It added that the NSDC would remain engaged as OSDL moved into full-scale commercial production, expressing the expectation that the project would demonstrate the potential for Nigeria’s sugar sector to be built around locally grown sugarcane.