Over the years, a major received wisdom in Nigeria is that agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, its real foundation for creating employment, livelihood and opportunities. Truly, it was the case that Nigeria used to boast of a thriving agricultural economy in crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing, with every part of the country thriving agriculturally. The country has over 34 million hectares of arable land, and a net total area of 79 million hectares that can be cultivated, and an irrigable area of 3.14 million hectares. Between 1961 and the following decade, Nigeria’s economy was significantly propelled by agriculture, the exports from the sector generating over 40% of national revenue. Those were the days when the South West, the Western region as it then was, built cocoa plantations, agricultural extension settlements and commodity boards. In those days, the farmer was considered King – Agbe L’Oba in local parlance.
The tallest building in the Western region then was actually known as Cocoa House, built with agricultural revenue. Farmers were so powerful in the South West they even had an activist group named Agbekoya – meaning “the union of farmers who reject suffering”. It was a peasant revolt, led by ordinary farmers who were so powerful they rejected Federal Government taxation and state regulations of agricultural co-operatives. These farmers were so powerful they thought they should have a say in government policies, particularly taxation. Their wealth had helped to develop the region in terms of Awolowo’s education programmes and the development of infrastructure. In the North, there were groundnut pyramids, pyramid structures built by the likes of Alhassan Dantata, a prominent nut and cotton trader who oversaw exports of groundnuts to the Royal Niger Company. The pyramids were so central to Nigeria they found their way to the country’s postage stamp. In the Mid-West, there were rubber plantations. along a substantial stretch of the road from the West to the Mid-West.
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The Middle Belt was known as the food basket of Nigeria, where everything that was edible could be cultivated, from livestock to tomatoes and yams. In the South-South, Nigeria produced a thriving fishing industry. Indeed, the country earned its spurs as one of the best countries in the world in agriculture: the world’s largest producer of cassava, yam, the second largest producer of sorghum, the fifth largest producer of palm oil and cocoa beans, and the third largest producer of peanuts and sweet potatoes. The country was so rich, it had enough food to feed itself and enough for exports. This is the same country today where food inflation is over 50% in some states. This is the same country where ordinary Nigerians complain about the high cost of food and survival. In the South West, they say “Ebi n pa wa” – meaning we are hungry. In this same country where a federal Minister, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, who was in charge of the Federal Government’s Committee on rice distribution in the 80s, once boasted that Nigerians were not eating from the dustbin because the government provided sufficient food, it is now a fact that Nigerians would be happy to eat from the dustbin. Even those dustbins are empty.
The cause of the problem first and foremost is that Nigeria found oil, and the economy moved away from agriculture to oil exploration and the petro-dollar that came with it. The new rulers of Nigeria in military uniform abandoned agriculture, the country’s economic mainstay. Oil brought so much wealth a former Head of State boasted that Nigeria’s problem was not money but how to spend it! The farmers left the rural farms and trooped to the urban centres to gain close access to their own share of the national cake of oil revenue. But Nigeria’s crude oil brought nothing but misery: it divided the country along ethnic and geographical lines, it created a new elite that chose rent collection as a way of life. The entire country became indolent. Agriculture was abandoned because it requires much thinking, preparation and hardwork. There have been efforts in the past to revive agriculture but every effort in that direction has not worked due to lack of commitment, absence of continuity, corruption, waste and poor organization. In 1976, in his first coming as Nigeria’s Head of State, President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced what he called “Operation Feed the Nation” to increase food production, healthy nutrition and promote farming. In 1979/80, the Shagari administration focussed on what was called the “Green Revolution”, to ensure food security. Between 1976 and 1980, there were also fertilizer distribution programmes. All of these initiatives, brilliant as they were on paper failed to achieve their objectives. By 2008, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was telling the Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) about his administration’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals of nutrition security, poverty and hunger reduction, even if budgetary allocation to agriculture then was a mere 7 per cent.
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In order not to delay us with history, let us jump to the Jonathan administration, 2010 -2015 under which a blueprint for agricultural development was introduced and led by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina who before his appointment had been the Vice President of Policy and Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). He had also worked as a senior economist at the West African Rice Development Association (WARDA), Ivory Coast. Adesina’s natural inclination as Minister was to revolutionize agriculture, turn it into a business and reinvent it. He was succeeded by Audu Ogbeh who threw away his blueprint and confused agriculture with politics. It is widely believed, in any case, that the Buhari administration was not keen about anything that required any measure of rigour. The agriculture value chain in Nigeria also suffered due to low budgetary allocation, lack of political will, politics, the fixation of the leaders with easy oil wealth. The problem has since been compounded by the effects of climate change, insecurity in the country which makes it difficult for farmers to get to their farms or feed their cattle, oil pollution in the Niger Delta which has destroyed aquatic life and the politicisation of agriculture.
This is the setting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited in 2023. Food inflation is the biggest problem in Nigeria today. Oil exploration has become problematic. There is no money to buy food. It is still the same land, but not enough to eat, and where food is available, it is costly. Tinubu has been talking about food security and the need for the states to work together with the Federal Government to address this national emergency. I find quality response from two states: the Niger State administration of Governor Umar Mohammed Bago, the farmer-Governor and the Chrislam who sings and leads Christian praise worship sessions despite being a Muslim. Besides singing Christian songs as a Muslim, Bago is investing heavily in agriculture. The other Governor is Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos State, who is about to cause a food revolution in Lagos. The rest of this piece is devoted to the example of Lagos State and my recent eye-witness account of the state’s response to Nigeria’s food dilemma.
In February 2024, I was the moderator of a media chat, the governor’s first tagged “Sanwoolu Speaks” where in the context of the complaints about hunger in the state, the governor promised among other things to launch what he called “Ounje Eko”- that is Lagos Food Initiative to support households and make food affordable. Within weeks after that media chat, Governor Sanwoolu launched the “Ounje Eko” Initiative, to give 25% food subsidy to Lagos residents in 60 locations across the state in all the local government areas. By July 2024, the Lagos government had chosen to rename the Ministry of Agriculture to become the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems. The new emphasis was to create and develop in an efficient manner, a value chain in Lagos State from the farm to the market to achieve supply and price stability. By October 2024, Lagos State launched the Fresh Food Hub Initiative, with the pilot project in Idi-Oro, Mushin. The concept is that of a one stop for very fresh food at affordable and unbeatable prices. It is a public-private partnership project, a good demonstration of how the government can collaborate with entrepreneurs with knowledge and expertise to innovate and elevate.
The other day, I ran into the xhairman of the company, Origin Tech Group, that is in partnership with the Lagos State government on the project. His name is Prince Samuel J. Samuel. He is chairman of about 22 companies including Sensale, Greener Hope, Landcraft, Rhema Project, Origin Agriculture, Origin Automobile and so on and so forth. His main project and mission is to partner with government to revolutionise agriculture. He believes that agriculture is one area in which Nigeria can make a quick difference in the people’s lives: create jobs, provide food at affordable rates, develop communities, and develop mechanised farming. “Many Nigerians are trained but they are untested”, he told me. Investment in agriculture can build resilient food systems and develop expertise. His company has since worked with the Sanwoolu Government to develop a 5-year Agric Strategic Plan for Lagos State. It is sub-titled “Lagos State Agriculture Development Roadmap – Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy.” Prince Samuel says he has had to suspend every other project he is working on because he is inspired by Governor Sanwoolu’s commitment and determination. His company designed and built the Middle Level Market in Idi Oro, Mushin. But that he said is just the beginning of a carefully thought-out programme for Lagos State.
Last week, he invited me to visit the Food Logistics Hub that is being built in the Epe Division of the state. The plan is to commission the first phase of this Logistics Hub for Agriculture in May, 2025. It is located in Ketu-Ejinrin, a quiet, rural community that is about to be transformed. For over two hours, we inspected the vast farmland and food processing centre that is under construction. The phase one sits on 2.2 million square metres of land, and when the hub is completed, it will occupy 4.2 million square metres. Origin Group and the Lagos Government are constructing a total of a 60-kilometre network of roads within the farm settlement. Eighteen kilometres is already built with full concrete, of about more than four metres in diameter.
Some of the facilities at the location include a weighbridge, an administrative block of five floors, a cold storage on 15, 000 square metres, a large dry store area, 11 dealing areas sitting on 7,000 square metres (eight nearing completion), storage silos of 1.5 million tonnes when fully completed, a clinic, and a truck terminal with a processing and parking capacity of 1, 560 trucks per day. When fully completed, this facility will be powered with a 4 MW gas plant, backed up with 27 MW of solar capacity. The Lagos Food System hub is patterned after the Marche d’Interet National de Rungis in Paris, the largest food market in the world. A similar market co-operative is the Royal FloraHolland. The Lagos farm logistics hub is designed to sell wholesale products to traders who then distribute to other networks within the state. The objective, says Samuel, is to ensure market and price stability. I marvelled at the expanse of land, stretching as far as the Lagoon with jetty locations abutting the farm. Five kilometres away is another farm, a ranch for cows. Over 250 million dollars have so far been spent. The workers at the location were all Nigerians including the engineers and security personnel.
“We could not have done this without Governor Sanwoolu”, he said. “If Dangote can build a whole refinery, that in itself is inspiring. Other entrepreneurs can do it. Governor Sanwoolu told me let’s do it. By the time you visit this site in another month, you’d be surprised.”
Would he opt for a Free Zone model? “No”, he retorted. “We don’t want customs disturbing our off-takers. Do you know what killed Tinapa? Brilliant idea. Free Trade Zone killed it.”
How about exports? “That is not our priority. The Governor wants the people of Lagos to get food at stable and affordable prices, that is his primary target.”
When we left Ketu-Ejinrin, our next stop was Abijo, near the Lagos Business School where Lagos State is building another Middle Level Market. “If you look around, you will see that markets in Lagos States developed organically. What Governor Sanwoolu is trying to do is to organize the farm to market value chain in line with world standards,” Prince Samuel said. The Abijo Market is the same as the one in Idi Oro, Mushin. Lagos State plans to build about 60 of such markets across the state. A beautiful structure, with ample parking space. The market is to be operated on a trade-as-you-go-basis. The market like the one in Idi-Oro is also open to all Lagosians. I pointed out that I had seen something similar in Rwanda. Prince Samuel dismissed that quickly. “The Lagos vision is bigger than that!”
From Abijo, we also inspected Origin Group factories in Oregun and Surulere where state of the art mechanized farming equipment has been kept aside, to launch perhaps the most extensive mechanized farming programme that Nigeria has ever seen, when the logistics hub is completed. I was worried though that Governor Sanwoolu has just two more years left in office. Is there any guarantee that this legacy project will be sustained by his successors? Perhaps the private sector partnership is a form of guarantee. Prince Samuel is as committed to the project as the Governor. A former Tomato Puree maker, he sees agriculture as a business and a passion. He believes that with agriculture, Nigeria cannot fail, nor should the country worry about the energy transition, an area where Nigeria is so far behind. Agriculture he says is the future. Prince Samuel is also an author, he believes that research is everything, and that technology has changed the world for good. He has found a good soulmate in the Governor of Lagos State. The Lagos 5-year Agric Plan should be shared with other states of the Federation and the Federal Government. Nigerians must fight the scourge of hunger. No Nigerian male or female, must ever go to bed hungry. President Tinubu and the Governors must feed the nation and encourage local entrepreneurs working in the agric sector and other sectors. Dangote’s example in oil and gas has catalysed courage and ambition in the country. Let more Dangotes who dream big (!) emerge across the landscape.
Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.
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