•Says Lagos Food hubs built to reduce prices of foodstuff, create jobs
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday commissioned the Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hub in Agege, describing the facility as a major component of his administration’s efforts towards building a more efficient, affordable and resilient food system for the state.
The Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hub in Agege, built on 7,000 square meters of land, is the third in the series after Idi-Oro Mushin and Abijo, Ajah Fresh Food hubs.
Speaking during the commissioning of the Lagos Fresh Food Hub at Pen Cinema, Agege, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the food hub was built to ensure a direct farm-to-table supply chain to cut out middlemen, curb food spoilage, and lower consumer costs.
He disclosed that the state’s network of mid-level agro-produce hubs constructed in different parts of the state will reduce food supply chain costs, cut post-harvest losses and create thousands of jobs.
He said: “The commissioning of this Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hub in Agege is not simply the unveiling of another piece of infrastructure. It is the physical expression of a larger vision, one that places food security at the heart of our development agenda, and recognises that the prosperity of Lagos is inseparable from the strength and efficiency of its food system.
“When our administration began to rethink the food system of Lagos in 2021, we were guided by a simple but fundamental reality: feeding Lagos is not a production challenge alone. It demands the transformation of the entire food system. Lagos is Nigeria’s largest food market and one of Africa’s fastest-growing urban centres.
“With a population of over 25 million people, our demand for food is enormous and grows every day. Yet over 70 per cent of that food is produced outside our borders. It travels long distances through fragmented supply chains before reaching our markets, exposing our residents to high transportation costs, post-harvest losses, poor storage, supply disruptions, and price volatility.
“We therefore understood that producing more food is not enough. We had to transform the entire chain, from production through aggregation, logistics, and processing, to the markets themselves. That understanding gave birth to the Lagos State Food Systems Transformation Agenda: our comprehensive response to the challenge of feeding Lagos sustainably, affordably, efficiently, and safely.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu noted that the interventions are to create opportunities for farmers to thrive, for investors to earn good returns, and for Lagos to be fed reliably, hinting that the largest food hub at Ejirin in Epe will be completed before the end of his administration.
“At the centre of this Agenda is the Lagos Central Food Systems and Logistics Hub at Ketu-Ereyun, Epe, the flagship food infrastructure project of this Administration. Equipped with modern cold and dry storage, processing and repackaging centres, quality-control laboratories, warehouses, logistics bays, and digital trading platforms, it is designed to become the largest food logistics hub in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the capacity to service more than 1,500 food trucks daily and to handle over 1.5 million metric tonnes of food annually. I am pleased to announce that work on this project is at an advanced stage, and it will be commissioned before the end of this Administration.
“But one central facility, however large or sophisticated, cannot by itself serve the food-distribution needs of a megacity. This is why we created a network of Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hubs, beginning with the Fresh Food Hub, Mushin, commissioned in December 2023, and the Fresh Food Hub, Abijo, commissioned by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, earlier this year.
“These hubs shorten supply chains, reduce unnecessary layers of intermediation, improve produce handling, and make food distribution more efficient. The results speak for themselves. Since its commissioning, the Fresh Food Hub, Mushin, has recorded transactions valued at over ₦4 billion across 228 market days, with more than 850 registered vendors and over 7,000 direct and indirect jobs created. Well-designed market infrastructure does far more than provide a place to sell food: it improves farmers’ incomes, reduces post-harvest losses, creates jobs, and strengthens local economies.
“Today, we proudly add Agege to that network. This Hub is strategically located to serve Agege and its neighbouring communities, while strengthening the wider food-distribution network across Lagos. It represents our commitment to bringing modern food infrastructure closer to the people, to the communities where Lagosians buy, sell, and consume food every day. To the traders, farmers, and aggregators who will work here: this facility was built for you, and its success now rests in your hands.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu stressed further that “Supporting this infrastructure is the Produce for Lagos Programme, launched in July 2025 alongside the ₦500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund. Produce for Lagos represents a fundamental shift from a supply-driven to a demand-driven agricultural model. Rather than producing without certainty about where their output will be sold, farmers, within Lagos and across our partner states, now produce against the organised, guaranteed demand of the Lagos market.
“This addresses the two critical challenges farmers face: financing and market access. It reduces distress sales, improves incomes, and encourages greater investment in agricultural production.”
He said the projects are interconnected components of one integrated strategy, moving food efficiently from farm to aggregation centre, from aggregation centre to market, and from market to the dining table.
“Construction is progressing steadily at Opebi and Bombata, while additional locations have been identified in Ikorodu, Apapa, Festac, and the Lekki axis. Our long-term objective is clear: to establish structured food hubs across every Local Government and Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, so that no community is left behind in the modern food-distribution network we are building.
“These investments in infrastructure are matched by investments in people. Under this Administration, over 125,800 farmers and fishermen have been trained in modern agricultural practices. Through the Lagos Agripreneurship Programme, more than 4,000 young people have been equipped to build careers in modern agriculture, transitioning from job seekers to job creators.”
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya, said the hub is designed to accommodate major food value chains to the tune of N5 billion, including red meat and poultry, as wholesalers and bulk dealers would supply food items to retailers within the hub, eliminating the need for small-scale traders to source goods elsewhere and transport them in small quantities.
While noting that the Fresh Food hub is one of the dividends of democracy by Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration for residents of Agege, Olusanya said traders would also benefit from secure storage and professional facility management covering sanitation, water supply and waste disposal.
Olusanya said the Agege food hub represented another important factor in the state’s emerging food distribution network.
She said the project was developed in partnership with Origin Tech Group to move food more efficiently into and across Lagos while reducing losses and improving understanding of the state’s largely informal food distribution system.
Also speaking, the Chairman of Agege Local Government Area, Hon. Vinod Obasa, commended the State Government for the Fresh Food hub initiative, noting that it would improve access to fresh farmers’ produce and provide employment opportunities for economic prosperity in Agege.
The Agege Fresh Food hub has dry stores with a capacity of about 800 tonnes, cold storage facilities capable of holding about 300 tonnes of food, as well as electric vehicle charging stations and facilities for fisheries and aquaculture, modern trading floors, extensive cold and dry storage units, and ample vehicle parking space.
Other facilities include a dedicated seafood section, parking for between 80 and 90 vehicles and 10 electric vehicle charging points.
