When Governor Mai Mala Buni appointed Babagana Mohammed Adam as Special Adviser on Food Security, he placed a corporate turnaround specialist at the helm of what is arguably Yobe State’s most critical economic challenge.
The appointment is notable not merely for Adam’s veterinary and public health credentials, but for his track record as a business builder who has demonstrated the capacity to transform distressed assets into profitable enterprises.
With the Nigeria Food Corporation (NFC) already under his leadership and a new oversight mandate covering the state’s entire food security architecture, the question is whether business discipline can succeed where conventional agricultural policy has struggled.
Adam’s profile aligns with a deliberate shift toward private-sector thinking in public agricultural policy. His corporate journey began at Fulus Group, where, as the Group Managing Director, he led the conglomerate’s expansion into a multi-billion-naira enterprise with interests spanning investment management, agriculture, and facility management, and founded Fulus Capital Limited, a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed fund management and venture capital firm.
He subsequently served as Group Managing Director of Thinklab Group, a diversified conglomerate with interests in development, agriculture, and finance, where he successfully scaled the company’s portfolio to $400 million, demonstrating his capacity to manage complex, multi-sectoral businesses.
He also co-founded Rayyan Microfinance Bank, extending financial services to rural farmers and small businesses across the region. As Managing Director of the Nigeria Food Corporation, he has overseen the consolidation of six distressed agro-industrial assets into a single holding company: the Nigerian Food Company Limited, Nguru Oil Mills Limited, Yobe Flour and Feeds Mills Company Limited, Wheat Flour Global Mills Company Limited, Yobe State Fertiliser Blending Company, and the Damaturu Modern Abattoir.
This restructuring, executed through a Public-Private Partnership framework, aims to apply corporate governance principles to state-owned enterprises that had long been underperforming.
His recent strategic engagement with Chinese manufacturers, including FAW Trucks and Hongdefa Machinery, focused not merely on equipment procurement but on technology transfer and local production capacity, with the emphasis on establishing production workshops in Nigeria signalling an understanding that sustainable food security requires industrial capacity, not just humanitarian assistance. This is a business approach to a development problem.
The data underlying this appointment is sobering from a business perspective. Yobe produces enough sesame to meet domestic commercial demand and supply export markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Yet, for decades most of it left the state as raw produce, with real profits, jobs and skills created elsewhere.
This structural gap kept farmers poor and the local economy dependent on subsistence agriculture and federal allocations. The newly constructed sesame processing factories in Machina, Potiskum, Damaturu, and Nguru are designed to capture value that previously leaked out of the state’s economy.
Beyond sesame, rice processing in Yobe is profitable, with processors earning an average net income of N9,632 per 75kg bag and a return of 34 per cent per naira. Yet, processors struggle with multiple taxation, unreliable electricity, and inconsistent raw material supply. The business case for intervention is clear: fixing these constraints could unlock significant economic value.
The Yobe State Agency for Public-Private Partnership and Investment Promotion has reported that more than 50 local and foreign investors have expressed interest in key sectors of the state’s economy, with discussions progressing to due diligence and negotiation of commercial terms.
The agency has developed a PPP Policy, manual, implementation guidelines, and fiscal commitments framework designed to provide investors with confidence in the state’s partnership processes. Yobe’s improving business climate is reflected in its ranking as the ninth best-performing state in Nigeria’s Subnational Ease of Doing Business Index.
This institutional groundwork, combined with the tangible asset base of the Nigeria Food Corporation, creates a platform for attracting private capital that previous administrations lacked.
No single appointment can resolve Yobe’s food security challenges, as the factors driving food insecurity-climate variability, insecurity, rising input costs, and inflation-are largely beyond the control of any state-level official. However, Adam’s mandate to coordinate the Yobe State Mega Agricultural Empowerment Programme, the Community Revolving Funds under ACReSAL, the Livestock Development Programme, and the Nutrition 774 Initiative, while serving as primary liaison with FAO, WFP, UNICEF, IFAD, and the World Bank, places him in a position to ensure that scarce resources are deployed where they deliver the greatest economic return.
The business case for Yobe’s food security transformation is compelling, as processing sesame locally can increase its value by 30-50 per cent, depending on grade and destination. Revitalised mills mean jobs, functional fertiliser plants mean improved yields, and efficient transport fleets mean reduced post-harvest losses. Each intervention connects policy with livelihood and with economic sustainability.
Governor Buni’s appointment of Babagana Mohammed Adam as Special Adviser on Food Security represents a calculated bet that business discipline, corporate governance, and private-sector partnerships can achieve what conventional agricultural programmes have not.
The appointment leverages his dual role as Managing Director of the Nigeria Food Corporation, aligning institutional policy formulation with operational execution. Whether this translates into measurable improvements in food security will depend on sustained political will, adequate funding, improved security, and international partners’ cooperation.
For the investors assessing Yobe’s agro-industrial potential, the next twelve months will determine whether the state can move beyond subsistence to sustainable economic growth.