VENTURES AFRICA – In line with Nigeria’s agricultural transformation programme, Dansa Group, a subsidiary of Dangote group of companies has says it will set up a
$48.5 million high energy food processing plant – the largest in Africa – in the country.

According to Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi
Adesina, Dansa Group President, Sanni Dangote, made this known at the meeting of a High Level World Advisory
Group in New York which had global leaders like Bill Gates, former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, Dr Donald Kaberuke (AfDB President) and Dr Kanayo Nwanze (President , International Funds for agriculture) in
attendance.

Akinwunmi, who revealed this on the sideline of the 68th
session of the United Nations General Assembly in New
York on Monday, told journalists that the world leaders are
interested in Nigeria’s agricultural transformation as they
recognise the need for the country to diversify into other
sector of the economy.

“As I have said many times, this is not a populist issue. We are seriously restructuring this sector for greater
performance because the future of Nigeria is not in oil but
in agriculture. It is not the agriculture in the way we have
been doing it before but now as a business.”

The Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) was
launched in 2012 to make Nigeria a global powerhouse in
agriculture. Akinwunmi said the transformation programme have helped create about 3.2 million jobs and helped Nigeria reduce food bill by N800b ($4.9 billion).
He said Bill Gates is already spending millions of dollars in
Nigeria to support this agenda while the African
Development Bank is committing in $5oo million.

“All these are World leaders who will not waste their time
on what is not working,” the Minister said.

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