Keeping Oyo’s sugar dream alive

By the time Chief Olusola Adepoju began contemplating the possibility of walking away from the project he had spent more than a decade building, he had little left to give.

He had sold houses. He had sold cars. He had invested virtually everything he possessed into a dream many people had stopped believing in. Around him, early supporters were losing faith. Some investors had quietly withdrawn. Others had concluded that the ambitious sugar project in Iseyin would never be completed.

Yet, standing in Iseyin was a sprawling sugar-processing facility that represented years of struggle, sacrifice and hope. The machines were there. The structures were there. The vision was there. What was missing was the money needed to bring everything to life.

Today, the story is remarkably different.

The factory has successfully completed test-running. It has produced sugar and molasses. Plans are underway for full-scale commercial operations. What appeared destined to become another abandoned industrial project is now on the verge of becoming one of the most significant agro-industrial investments in Oyo State.

At the heart of this transformation is a story of persistence, public-private partnership and, according to the company’s chairman, a series of crucial interventions by Governor Seyi Makinde that ultimately helped save the project from collapse.

Ironically, the idea that would later become Oyo Sugar and Derivatives Industries Limited did not begin in a sugarcane field.

It started at a seminar organised by the All Farmers Association of Nigeria in Nasarawa State, where the National Sugar Development Council, like many others, had a stand to display sugar and sugarcane. Adepoju, who at that time was primarily involved in cotton farming, visited the stand. During discussions, he learnt about the enormous opportunities in sugarcane cultivation and sugar production. The information sparked his curiosity.

What appeared to be a casual encounter would eventually change the course of his life.

Returning to Oyo State, he began exploring the possibilities of developing sugarcane farming in the Oke-Ogun axis, particularly around Iseyin, an area known for its vast agricultural potential.

“I discovered that we had the land and the farmers,” he recalled. “What we needed was organisation and a vision.”

His first step was to mobilise farmers around a cooperative model. The initial objective was modest: organise sugarcane cultivation and create a sustainable market for local farmers.

But as discussions progressed, the ambition grew.

Rather than merely growing sugarcane, why not process it locally?

Why should communities produce the raw materials while other regions reap the benefits of industrial processing?

Those questions gradually transformed a farming initiative into something much bigger: the vision of a fully integrated sugar industry capable of producing sugar and other derivatives while creating thousands of direct and indirect economic opportunities.

As the project gathered momentum, it aligned naturally with the Federal Government’s Nigeria Sugar Master Plan, a programme designed to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported sugar through local cultivation and industrial processing.

The alignment brought institutional recognition and support.

What had started as a cooperative effort among local farmers evolved into a structured agro-industrial venture. The National Sugar Development Council became interested in the project and eventually provided support in the form of loans.

With the financial backing, equipment was sourced from India. Modern sugar-processing machinery began arriving. Engineers and technical experts became involved. The dream was becoming tangible.

But building a sugar factory turned out to be far more complicated than anyone had anticipated.

The project faced challenge after challenge.

There were infrastructure issues. There were equipment procurement delays. There were financing gaps. There was the enormous task of establishing the sugarcane ecosystem needed to supply a future factory.

The journey that many expected to take a few years stretched into more than a decade.

By 2016, more than 140 farmers had become involved in the initiative.

Collectively, they contributed millions of naira toward the dream. However, as progress slowed and timelines extended, enthusiasm began to wane.

People became impatient. Some contributors stopped participating. Others resigned themselves to disappointment. But Adepoju refused to give up. As financial pressures mounted, he increasingly relied on personal resources to keep the project alive. He sold properties. He sold vehicles. He reinvested proceeds into the business.

“I believed too much in the project to abandon it,” he said. “We had already installed some equipment. Shutting down would have been disastrous.”

Keeping the factory running became an enormous burden. Suppliers demanded outstanding payments. Salaries had to be paid. Additional equipment still needed to be imported from India. Workers looked to management for reassurance, but the future remained uncertain.

Yet every morning the gates remained open.

The situation became even more difficult after 2022. According to Adepoju, funding support from the National Sugar Development Council became increasingly difficult to access. He said repeated efforts to secure additional support yielded little progress, despite the fact that significant work had already been done and only a relatively small funding gap remained compared to the overall investment in the project.

The chairman described 2023 as one of the darkest periods in the history of the factory.

“We had bills to pay. The suppliers were waiting for their balance. We needed additional equipment. Everything seemed stuck,” he recalled.

Then something unexpected happened.

Related News

• Nigeria targets $1bn from local sugar production
• Oyo APM expands campaign council, announces Friday inauguration
• Makinde pledges support for entrepreneurs

One afternoon in 2023, while sitting in his office worrying about the future of the project, security officers rushed in with surprising news.

The governor of Oyo State was at the factory.

“I asked them, ‘Which governor?’ They said, ‘Governor Seyi Makinde,’” he recalled.

The visit was unannounced.

According to the chairman, the governor inspected the facility, toured the factory and sought detailed explanations about the obstacles delaying completion.

What impressed Adepoju most was the governor’s focus on employment.

“He asked me one question: ‘How many people are you going to employ here?’” the chairman recalled.

The answer was significant.

At full capacity, the company projects employment for 518 permanent workers. In addition, it expects to support about 200 transporters and service providers, as well as approximately 1,000 farmers who will supply sugarcane to the factory. The facility also has the capacity to produce about 30 tonnes of brown sugar daily.

For a predominantly agrarian region like Oke-Ogun, those figures represent substantial economic opportunities. The governor listened carefully as the chairman narrated the challenges confronting the project. According to Adepoju, Makinde immediately showed interest in helping to find a solution.

The visit was only the beginning. Over the following months, the governor maintained an interest in the progress of the project. He facilitated discussions with NSDC aimed at resolving funding issues and continued asking for updates whenever their paths crossed.

One such encounter occurred at a programme organised by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in 2024. When he met the chairman again, Makinde asked a familiar question.

“Have you started employing our people?”

The answer disappointed both men. The factory remained incomplete. And by then, circumstances had become even more challenging. The depreciation of the naira had dramatically increased project costs. What previously required about N300m to complete now required close to N1bn. The finish line appeared to be moving farther away.

Faced with what he considered an existential threat to the project, Adepoju wrote what he described as a passionate appeal to Makinde. The message was simple. Save the factory.

The response would ultimately change the trajectory of the project.

Through Pacesetter Holdings, the Oyo State Government provided N850m to support the completion of the facility. The intervention arrived at perhaps the most critical moment in the company’s history.

Suddenly, stalled construction resumed. Outstanding obligations were addressed. Equipment installation accelerated. The possibility of commercial production no longer seemed out of reach. For Adepoju, the intervention represented far more than financial support. It was confirmation that the years of sacrifice, perseverance and personal investment had not been wasted.

“It saved the factory,” he said simply.

The government’s intervention had another important effect.

Around the same period, discussions had emerged regarding plans to bring in investors to acquire the project. After years of frustration, Adepoju himself had reached a point where he was prepared to consider options that would ensure the factory’s completion.

However, the state government’s financial intervention changed the dynamics completely.

With the funding secured, the promoters regained control of the future of the project, and attention shifted once again from ownership questions to completing the factory.  The factory survived. More importantly, it remained in the hands of those who had worked for years to build it.

Even after construction had been completed, another challenge emerged. Factories do not become operational simply because construction is finished. Test-running requires substantial resources.

Workers must be trained. Systems must be calibrated. Machinery must be tested under real production conditions. All of these activities require money. According to the company, additional assistance was needed to bridge the gap between completion and operation.

Once again, support came from the Oyo State Government.

Part of a subsequent N2.3bn loan package was channelled into financing the test-running phase. The intervention enabled the company to carry out production trials successfully.

The outcome was historic. For the first time, sugar rolled out of the factory. Molasses was also produced successfully.

After years of planning, borrowing, building and waiting, the dream had finally become reality.

Today, Oyo Sugar and Derivatives Industries Limited stands on the threshold of commercial operations. Yet, its significance goes far beyond sugar production. The company is expected to create jobs for hundreds of workers, provide opportunities for about 1,000 sugarcane farmers, stimulate economic activities across the Oke-Ogun zone and deepen Oyo State’s drive towards agro-industrial development. Future possibilities include ethanol production, electricity generation and the production of other sugar-based derivatives.

For Adepoju, the factory represents the fulfilment of a dream that consumed more than a decade of his life and much of his personal fortune. For many observers, however, it is also a compelling example of what can happen when private enterprise is matched with strategic government support.

In Iseyin today, the giant machines are no longer symbols of an unfinished ambition. They are evidence that perseverance can triumph over adversity. Every bag of sugar that rolls off the production line will tell the story of a governor who refused to let a major industrial investment die. Without the critical interventions of  Makinde, from championing the project at its most difficult moments to providing the financial lifelines that enabled its completion and test-running, the dream of building a sugar industry in Oke-Ogun might never have become reality. Instead, that dream is now alive, producing sugar and creating opportunities for the people of Oyo State.

Dr Olanrewaju is the Special Adviser (Media) to the Governor of Oyo State.