The Industrial Development Manager of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Alhassane Haidara on Wednesday said the bank would support fertilizer production in Nigeria with 100 million dollars.

He disclosed this at a media briefing on the key industrial initiatives and projects of the bank in Abidjan.

“We are going to finance a huge fertilizer plant for the production of Uriah, Ammonia, among others and we are partnering with many companies to get it done. The plant will be one of the largest fertilizer plants not only in Africa but in the world,’’ Haidara said.

Explaining that the production would be leveraging on the huge gas reserve in Nigeria to power the plant and transform the raw materials, he added that the aim was to ensure that the agricultural sector in Nigeria as well as Africa was massively developed.

Noting that there were lots of interest in Nigeria to develop the agriculture and other sectors of the economy, Haidara said the bank would embark on projects in the petrol chemical sector this year, which also linked with the fertilizer production.

According to him, AfDB had in 2014 supported the Dangote Group with $100 million for the expansion of the group’s activities on cement and petrol chemical across Africa, enabling it to access the bank loan based on its clean balance sheet.

“We supported the Dangote Group with 100 million dollars as well to boost its activities in cement production across Africa,’’ Haidara said.

He said that industrializing Africa was among the high five priorities of the bank, adding that the AfDB’s commitment had increased from $40 million in 2000 to $2,000 million as at 2017.

He said that Africa’s industrialization still lagged behind compared to other continents in the world