Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Golden Sugar Company, owned by Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, and BUA Sugar Refinery Ltd are now the three companies licensed to import sugar into Nigeria.*

The Central Bank's Commerce and Foreign Exchange Department said in a circular dated July 16 that these three major domestic sugar producers were the only ones allowed to import sugar and would have access to dollars from concessionary authorities, but the Central Bank will have to prior to accept purchases. The Central Bank justified the choice of these three companies as it considers that they have made “reasonable progress in achieving backward integration in the sugar sector”. In 2012, Nigeria adopted the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) with the objective of expanding domestic sugar production and reducing imports through local and foreign direct investment. Thus, BUA has invested more than $300 million in Lafiagi Sugar Company (Lasuco) in Kwara State with a 20,000 hectare plantation, a sugar factory and a refinery. Dangote Sugar Refinery has committed over $700 million to its sugar projects. As for Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN), it recently acquired 20,450 hectares of land in Nasarawa State, in addition to 5,200 hectares of land from Sunti Golden Sugar Estates.