A Federal lawmaker, Senator Nenadi Usman on Wednesday said Nigeria has no sugar regulation policy and offers no realistic protection to the sugar industry.

Senator Usman, while leading a debate on a bill to amend the national sugar development council act, said the few policies enacted by government to develop the sugar industry have so far been poorly implemented and therefore ineffective.

He drew the attention of federal lawmakers to the low production of sugar in the country saying Nigeria currently consumes about 1.3 million metric tonnes of sugar annually but produces only 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes.

She stressed that in Nigeria, sugar has the capacity to conserve foreign exchange as local production would reduce the high amount of foreign exchange used on imports.

Another lawmaker, Senator Smart Adeyemi condemned the federal government’s policy of granting waivers for the importation of sugar.