Governor of Kwara state, in the West Central region of Nigeria, AbdulFatah Ahmed has revealed plans by U. S.-based Company, Masilo to establish a $150 million cassava processing mill in the state.

Governor Ahmed made the disclosures during a courtesy visit by the Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Dr Alex Oti, to the Government House in Ilorin, capital of Kwara.

The governor said the mill, when operational, would process cassava into various products for consumption and export.

According to Businessday, the governor also disclosed that the state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with another foreign company poised to establish a rice processing mill in the state.

He said the rice farming and processing company will require about 20 hectares of land and the project would cost both the government and the foreign partner N70 billion ($444 million) over the next five years.

He reiterated the determination of the government toward the transformation of the state’s economy and job creation through agricultural revolution. One of the strategies is by grouping farmers into cooperative societies, to enable them to support agro-based business in the state, which ultimately drives the economy.

Ahmed assured the management of commercial banks in the state of the readiness of government to partner with them to develop the economy, especially agriculture and entrepreneurship scheme.

Earlier, Diamond Bank’s MD had lauded the effort of the governor on commercial farming. Oti was visiting to explore avenues for partnership with the government on it various agro-based developmental programmes.