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.