Patience Imeah
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has unveiled a new food hub to enable lower and affordable food prices for residents in the area.
Sanwo-Olu held that the provision, aimed at ensuring that the inhabitants of the state get fresh foods and other farm products at affable prices is part of the state’s broader plan to strengthen food security and make food distribution more efficient and affordable.
The Governor, during the unveiling of the facility located in Agege on Wednesday, explained that over 70% of Lagos food comes from outside the state making it one of the reasons the government is transforming the entire food supply chain from production and storage to transportation, processing and marketing to reduce costs.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the Lagos Central Food Systems and Logistics Hub in Epe, is nearing completion and is expected to handle over 1.5 million metric tonnes of food annually. He also noted the success of the Mushin Fresh Food Hub, which has recorded over ₦4 billion in transactions and created more than 7,000 direct and indirect jobs.
He said the Agege hub would bring modern food infrastructure closer to residents while supporting traders, farmers and aggregators. He also mentioned the Produce for Lagos Programme and the ₦500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund, designed to give farmers guaranteed markets for their produce, improve their incomes and encourage agricultural investment.
The Governor added that more agro-produce hubs were being developed across Lagos, with the long-term goal of establishing structured food hubs in every Local Government and Local Council Development Area.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food system, Abisola Olusanya, stated that the measure was developed as part of the state’s food distribution network to improve the movement of food, reduce post-harvest losses and provide a cleaner, more organised environment for traders and consumers.
She said the 7,000-square-metre facility has a 4,000-square-metre trading floor, dry and cold storage facilities, a seafood section, parking spaces and 10 electric vehicle charging ports.
The commissioner said hub is expected to accommodate 350 to 400 vendors and facilitate over ₦5 billion in food transactions annually.
Olusanya added that the hub would commence full operations in six weeks after the completion of operator onboarding and other arrangements.
She said the hub in Agege was designed to serve as a model for modern food markets in Lagos, Nigeria and across Africa.