Banjo Adeniyi Olusegun
The Man
The Federal Government's man for agriculture in Lagos State — where policy meets the farmer.
Mr. Banjo Adeniyi Olusegun is the Lagos State Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) — the federal government's coordinating officer for agricultural programmes in Nigeria's commercial capital, Africa's largest consumer market for food.
An agriculture professional of over two decades and a graduate of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), he began as an Agricultural Officer in the Ministry and has risen to lead its Lagos office — the desk through which federal interventions, extension services, food-security programmes and land access flow to farmers and agri-businesses across the state.
The Journey
In the Room
In September 2026, at the Federal Government's launch of the soil laboratories revitalization programme, he was the voice of Lagos — stressing that farmers must understand the importance of soil information, calling on state and local governments to make agricultural land available to farmers, and pushing for public enlightenment on available farmland to draw more people into food production.
In July 2026 he represented the Ministry at the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce alongside Dr. Christopher Bielecki (Agriculture Counselor, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Consulate Lagos), NACC National President Alhaji Sheriff Balogun, and Dr. Iheanyi Orji (Agricultural Marketing Specialist, USDA) — the circles where Nigerian agriculture meets international trade.
The Programmes in His Hands
In July 2026, his office supervised the Federal Government's distribution of 20,160 bags of fertiliser to verified farmers across Lagos — part of a 26-state intervention under the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF). Alongside the fertiliser, the Ministry distributed improved tomato and pepper seeds, organic fertilisers and farm machinery, with dehydrators announced for follow-on support.
He also sits inside the national Soil Matters drive — the FMAFS programme run with GIZ and the Gates Foundation to build 774 soil laboratories across Nigeria's LGAs and train 10,000 young "Soil Doctors" by 2027, bringing soil testing and digital advisory within reach of every farming community.
His September 2026 message at the soil labs launch captured his philosophy: year-round production is possible, but only if farmers get soil information — and governments release the land.
The Institutions
The rooms and bodies where he represents Nigerian agriculture:
Why He Matters
For anyone building in Lagos agriculture, his desk is the federal gateway: land access advocacy, soil testing, extension programmes, federal grants and interventions, food-security initiatives and the Ministry's ear in Abuja. He is both a policy voice and a farmer's advocate — pushing governments to open land while pushing farmers toward modern practice.
- The coordinator: every federal agricultural programme touching Lagos — fertiliser, improved seeds, machinery, land advocacy — passes through his office.
- The advocate: publicly presses state and local governments to release land for farming — the exact barrier every agri-project faces.
- The bridge: sits in rooms with the USDA, NACC and federal programme leads — where Nigerian agriculture meets money and policy.