Lagos Leveraging Innovations To Improve Food Security, Says Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to encouraging more innovative individuals and groups that will help scale up food security in the state.
Governor Sanwo-Olu gave this assurance at the 2025 Lagos Food Festival held at Muri Okunola with the theme: “Taste Without Borders ” The Governor stated that over the last eleven months, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, has been involved in numerous interventions and empowerment initiatives that have positively impacted Agripreneurs and the entire ecosystem.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems has achieved a great deal this year, empowering numerous entrepreneurs. This initiative aims to continue supporting innovators and aggregators in the food business, providing them with opportunities to establish independence and succeed as entrepreneurs.

“And families are also here to enjoy and see the exhibition of various food cultures and cuisine, and you can see that the whole place is filled up. I myself have also been put in charge of a quick food chef.

I actually cooked. I was assigned to Chef Jide, where I prepared a seafood rice dish with spinach and had the opportunity to taste my own cooking as well.

“But it is a whole idea of families coming out, encouraging people in the catering, food space, and for us to be able to use food to tell the Lagos story. So it is really for people to see, understand and appreciate that we are people, which is very fashionable in all areas. Food is one in which you can show your arts, you can show your skill, and we are doing it on a budget and opening opportunities for a lot of young talents, we are opening up the smart people, and businesses are being transformed,” he said.

Governor Sanwo-Olu added that the government must design programmes that will uplift citizens and encourage different skills, “so that Lagos continues to remain safe and home for all of them.”

In her remarks, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya, stressed that the festival, the fifth in its series, embodies what Lagos stands for, particularly in the area of culinary culture fused with entertainment.

Olusanya also mentioned that the festival has allowed food actors in the state and the connected value chain to network, expand their businesses and grow beyond borders.

She said “Lagos is very diverse, it is very multicultural and so we believe that in celebrating everything that is Lagos, food is the embodiment of that and we as the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, we are the curators and the custodians of that, so it is best that we celebrate all of our value food chain actors and the Lagos Food Festival is a place to do so.

We have had many stars made from the Lagos Food Festival simply because Mr Governor cooked alongside them, tasted their food, and gave a word of encouragement. So, this is an avenue for us as the ministry of agriculture and food systems to solidify all of our interventions over the years and to celebrate everyone that makes it possible for all of us to eat in Lagos.”