Trained as a telecommunications engineer, Alex has built a career spanning infrastructure, real estate, oil and gas services and agribusiness. Today, his core focus is Engineering, Procurement and Construction, EPC, which shapes how he approaches large-scale development. His engineering background has taught him to see agriculture as a connected system in which production, infrastructure and access to markets must work together.
That thinking is now being applied to a 5,000-hectare integrated agro-industrial project in Ondo State focused on cocoa farming and cocoa production. The first phase is projected to create about 3,000 direct and indirect jobs, with the potential to reach approximately 6,000 jobs as the project expands and processing facilities are introduced.
In this Spotlight Interview, Engr. Alex Omaghomi discusses the engineering thinking behind cocoa farming and production, the importance of building integrated agricultural value chains, his vision for the 5,000-hectare Cocoa agro-industrial project in Ondo State and the contribution he wants private enterprise to make to Nigeria’s economic transformation.
Engr. Alex Omaghomi on Engineering and Cocoa Farming and Production
CA: Your career has moved across telecommunications engineering, infrastructure, real estate and agribusiness. How have these different experiences shaped the way you approach large-scale development in Africa?
Alex: I think each stage of my career has given me a different lens, but engineering has always remained at the centre of how I think.
My educational background is in telecommunications engineering, but today my core focus is Engineering, Procurement and Construction, EPC. That means my approach to large-scale development is fundamentally about understanding how you take an idea and turn it into a functioning physical and economic system.
Telecommunications taught me to think about systems and connectivity. My experience in real estate, oil and gas services and infrastructure development exposed me to the practical realities of construction, procurement, project execution and capital projects. Over time, that naturally evolved into a broader EPC approach.
So when I look at something like agro-industrialisation, I don’t see agriculture simply as farming. I see the engineering requirements around the entire system: land preparation, roads, irrigation, processing facilities, storage, logistics, utilities and the infrastructure required to connect production to markets.
That is really the perspective I’m bringing into our current work. We’re not approaching agro-industrialisation simply as agricultural investors. We’re approaching it as engineers and developers who understand that industrial agriculture has to be designed, constructed and integrated.
And that is why I believe EPC is such an important part of Africa’s development story. We need indigenous companies that can take investment concepts and actually turn them into physical infrastructure and productive economic assets.
Building More Value From Agricultural Production
CA: You describe agriculture as the upstream engine of industrial economies. What convinced you that agro-industrialisation could play such an important role in Nigeria’s economic transformation?
Alex: When you look closely at agriculture, you realise that it touches almost every part of the economy.
Agriculture creates the raw materials, but the real economic opportunity begins when you start asking what happens after production. Can we process those commodities here? Can we manufacture from them? Can we create logistics networks around them? Can we build industries and jobs around those value chains?
For me, that’s where agro-industrialisation becomes important.
Nigeria has enormous agricultural potential, but producing more raw materials by itself doesn’t necessarily create the level of industrial transformation we need. The opportunity is to build systems that move us from simply producing commodities to processing, manufacturing and exporting higher-value products.
That’s why I describe agriculture as an upstream engine. It can feed multiple industries when the infrastructure and value chains are properly developed.
Connecting Cocoa Farming and Production to a Wider Value Chain
CA: Your approach connects farming, engineering, processing, logistics and manufacturing as parts of one system. Why is this integrated model important for building stronger agricultural value chains?
Alex: Yes, because these things don’t actually exist independently in any real and developed economy.
If a farmer produces efficiently but there is no storage, you have losses. If you have production and storage but no reliable logistics, you have another problem. If you have all of that but export raw materials instead of processing them, you’re still leaving significant value on the table.
So I believe we have to stop looking at agriculture as simply farming.
Agriculture should be connected to engineering, infrastructure, processing, manufacturing, logistics, finance and markets. Once you begin to design those components together, you start creating an industrial system rather than just an agricultural project.
That’s really the thinking behind what we’re building. We want to connect the different stages of the value chain so that agricultural production can translate into industrial output and ultimately into jobs, businesses and economic value.
Engr. Alex Omaghomi on the 5,000-Hectare Cocoa Project
CA: You are spearheading a 5,000-hectare integrated agro-industrial project in Ondo State focused on cocoa farming and production. What problem is the project designed to solve, and what would make it a model that could be replicated elsewhere in Nigeria?
Alex: The fundamental problem we’re trying to solve is value chain fragmentation.
You can have land, farmers, agricultural production and markets, but if the engineering infrastructure isn’t there to connect everything, you don’t have an industrial system.
Our Ondo project is therefore much bigger than simply cultivating 5,000 hectares. We’re looking at the engineering and infrastructure required to turn that land into a productive agro-industrial ecosystem, bringing together production, processing, storage, logistics and market access.
And because our core competence is EPC, we’re looking at the project from the standpoint of how these systems are actually designed, procured, constructed and operated.
The employment impact is also important. The first phase of the 5,000-hectare project is projected to create about 3,000 direct and indirect jobs, with the potential to rise to approximately 6,000 jobs as the project expands and processing facilities are introduced.
But for me, even those numbers are only one part of the story. The bigger objective is to create an ecosystem in which young people, women, farmers, technicians, engineers, logistics operators, processors and entrepreneurs can all participate in the value chain.
If we can build the model properly in Ondo, then the ambition is to demonstrate something that can be adapted and replicated in other parts of Nigeria. So I don’t see the 5,000 hectares simply as a large farm. I see it as a platform for demonstrating what integrated agro-industrialisation can look like.
Creating Opportunities Around Cocoa Farming and Production
CA: Youth and women are central to the Ondo State project through skills, employment and enterprise opportunities. Why was economic inclusion important to the way you designed the initiative?
Alex: Economic inclusion of women and youth is important to us because development ultimately has to affect people.
You can build infrastructure and announce investment figures, but if the people living around that economic activity don’t have pathways to participate in it, then you haven’t maximised the development impact.
Young people need skills, jobs and opportunities to build enterprises. Women also need meaningful access to economic participation, particularly within agricultural value chains where they already play significant roles.
So we’re thinking about inclusion from the design stage rather than treating it as something that comes after the project is completed.
In the first phase, we’re looking at approximately 3,000 direct and indirect jobs, and as the project expands and processing capacity comes on stream, that could grow to around 6,000 jobs.
But employment is only one dimension. We also want young people and women to have opportunities to participate as entrepreneurs, suppliers, skilled workers, processors, service providers and value-chain operators.
That’s important because I don’t believe economic development should be measured only by how much land you develop or how much capital you invest. We should also ask: how many people are participating in the economy because of that investment?
If you build a processing plant, for example, you’re not only creating jobs inside the plant. You’re creating demand for engineers, equipment suppliers, transporters, maintenance companies, packaging businesses, logistics providers and other services.
So the multiplier effect is what interests me. For me, that’s what makes industrialisation meaningful. It shouldn’t only create assets. It should create economic inclusion and participation for youth and women.
Infrastructure Behind Cocoa Farming and Production
CA: Through Hostplace Group and Zilex Holding, you work across engineering, infrastructure and other sectors. What have you learned about building the infrastructure needed to move African economies from raw production towards greater value addition?
Alex: One of the biggest lessons is that infrastructure has to be designed around economic activity.
It’s not enough to say, “We need a bridge,” or “We need a warehouse.” The bigger question is: what economic system is this infrastructure supposed to serve?
If we’re producing agricultural commodities, for example, the infrastructure has to support the movement of those commodities from the farm to processing, from processing to storage, and from storage to domestic or international markets.
That requires thinking beyond individual projects and looking at the entire value chain.
My engineering background has made me very conscious of that. Infrastructure should not exist simply because we can build it. It should exist because it enables productivity, reduces costs, connects markets and makes businesses more competitive.
Private Enterprise and Nigeria’s Economic Transformation
CA: Your work also extends into policy and civic engagement, with a focus on governance, economic reform and institutional development. How has that perspective influenced the way you think about the relationship between private enterprise and government?
Alex: I have always believed that private enterprise and government have to work together if we’re going to achieve meaningful economic transformation.
The government creates policies, institutions and regulatory environments. The private sector brings capital, technical expertise, entrepreneurship and execution. If those two sides aren’t aligned, even very good ideas can struggle to achieve scale.
My involvement in policy and civic engagement has therefore made me more conscious of the institutional side of development.
A company can build a successful project, but if the policy environment doesn’t support continuity, investment or productivity, there are limitations to how far that project can go.
At the same time, the government cannot do everything itself. There has to be room for capable private-sector actors to participate in economic development.
So I see the relationship as one of alignment. That is one of the reasons I support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Renewed Hope Agenda. I believe the direction towards economic diversification, infrastructure development, agricultural transformation, industrialisation and private-sector-led growth is important for Nigeria’s long-term development.
As someone operating in the private sector, I don’t look at government policy from a distance. The government has a role in creating the policy, regulatory and infrastructure environment. The private sector has a role in bringing capital, technical expertise, entrepreneurship and execution.
That is where I see my own contribution. I want to be part of the private-sector side of the Renewed Hope story by actually building productive assets and economic systems.
For me, supporting the administration is therefore not simply about politics. It is also about believing that the private sector has a responsibility to participate in the economic transformation the government is trying to achieve.
If Nigeria is going to become a more productive, industrial and competitive economy, the government cannot do it alone, and business cannot do it alone. We need alignment between policy, investment and execution.
The Renewed Hope National Development Plan 2026–2030 identifies economic diversification and productivity, human capital development, subnational competitiveness and private-sector-led growth among its priorities.
Engr. Alex Omaghomi on Nigeria’s Cocoa and Industrial Future
CA: You have argued that sustainable industrial growth depends on value addition rather than raw export dependency. Looking ahead, what would you like your work in cocoa farming and production to contribute to Nigeria’s agro-industrial development and its wider economic transformation?
Alex: For me, the bigger picture is the kind of economy we are trying to build as a country.
I am a supporter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Renewed Hope Agenda, and I believe that his ambition to build a $1 trillion Nigerian economy by 2030 requires more than economic reforms on paper. It requires us to actually build productive capacity across the country.
That is where I believe the private sector has a very important role to play. You cannot build a $1 trillion economy simply by consuming more or exporting more raw materials. We have to produce more, process more, manufacture more and create more value within Nigeria.
That is why my focus on Engineering, Procurement and Construction, EPC, is important to me. Industrialisation requires physical infrastructure. You need roads, processing plants, storage facilities, irrigation, power, logistics infrastructure and industrial facilities. Somebody has to design, procure and build those things.
And then you need businesses that can actually operate those assets and create economic activity around them.
That is what I’m trying to contribute through our work in agro-industrialisation.
Our Ondo project is part of that thinking. We’re looking at how you take agricultural land and build an integrated economic system around it, from production to processing, logistics and market access. We’re also looking at the employment that can be created through that ecosystem, particularly for young people and women.
So when I talk about agro-industrialisation, I’m not talking about agriculture in isolation. I’m talking about industrial capacity, infrastructure, jobs, investment, exports and value creation.
I want my work to contribute to the kind of private-sector-led economic growth that can help make the Renewed Hope vision tangible.
If Nigeria is going to achieve the ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy, then people like us in the private sector have to ask ourselves a very practical question: What are we building that contributes to that economy?
For me, the answer is clear: I’m focused on building infrastructure, developing agro-industrial systems, creating productive assets and helping turn Nigeria’s enormous agricultural potential into measurable economic value.
That’s the contribution I want to make to the Renewed Hope story.
The $1 trillion economy by 2030 referenced by Alex is a stated target of the Tinubu administration.
