Sanwo-Olu begins construction of Africa’s biggest food logistics park
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday flagged off the construction of the largest Food Logistics Park in Africa, the Lagos State Central Food Security Systems and Logistics Hub.
Sanwo-Olu in his address at the ground breaking in Ketu-Ereyun Epe said the Lagos State Food Security Systems & Central Logistics Hub will be built on 1.2 million square metres of land.
He said: “The project will be implemented in two phases – the pilot phase, for which we are doing the groundbreaking; and the main phase. When completed, the hub will create wealth for more than 5 million people, feed more than 10 million Lagosians, guarantee food supplies for at least 90 days, provide storage facilities for more than 1,500 trucks per day, service the needs of thousands of operators per annum, and process large commercial transactions.
“The project will improve productivity, guarantee greater returns for our farmers, by cutting out several layers of middlemen; facilitate improved access to modern processing and packaging services for farmers; and generate useful data for the use of government agencies, private sector players, and multilateral agencies.
“In addition, the Hub will provide a better buying experience for consumers; help achieve a reduction in logistics costs, while guaranteeing the standardization of quantity and quality for agricultural products.”
Sanwo-Olu also said the Lagos State government have partnered with the Federal Government for the construction of Ikorodu-Ikosi road and this would soon take effect.
Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya in her address said recent global events from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, erratic weather patterns causing severe droughts and floods to the war between Russia and Ukraine has shed more light on the vulnerability of food systems, particularly in urbanized societies that are more dependent on external food sources.
She noted that a disruption in the food distribution sequence has catastrophic effects of significant proportion to the security of a people.
Olusanya said the duration of the construction is from October 2022 to October 2024 will on completion unleash a huge potential in both the midstream and downstream sectors of the agricultural and foods sector in Lagos State.
