Annual A.M. Agoro Lecture holds August 14 at Radisson Blu Ikeja

…looks at fusion of agriculture and technology

The annual AM Agoro Lecture series comes up on Saturday, August 14, 2021. The AM Agoro lecture series is in collaboration with the Enterprise Development Center of the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos.

This year, the lecture is titled ‘A Fusion of Agriculture and Technology,’ and the event will take place at the Ijakadi Hall of Radisson Blu, situated on Issac John Street, Ikeja, Lagos.

The keynote speaker will be Prince Dr Adetoyi Ezekiel Olabode, Commissioner for Agriculture, Ekiti State.

The Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture for Lagos State, Ms Abisola Olusanya, will be the special guest speaker, while the chairman of the event will be His Royal Majesty, Oba Omogbolahan Lawal, Abisogun II, the 15th Oniru of Iru Kingdom.

The story of Lagos would not be complete without the late Mr Abudu Mukandasi Agoro, who was born on March 24, 1892.

The politics, the real estate, the law, and the commerce, even the social life of Lagos cannot be told in totality without talking about the influence of AM Agoro.

Right from his father to his children, they form part of the thread that holds Lagos together from the colonial days till date.

Although he has been gone for more than 70 years, the evidence of the work he did during his lifetime looks back at you on the streets of Lagos, or when you enter certain places.

He went into building and construction and worked for the colonial office of the Public Works Department (PWD).

From the experience and exposure he gathered, he started his own construction company, AM Agoro & Sons.

As a contractor, he provided houses for civil servants and business owners. He was a very busy man in the 1930s and 1940s, but still had the time to cater for the 18 children he had from the seven wives that he married at different times.

‘Baba Contractor’ as he was fondly called, understood the value of education and worked hard to ensure that his children went to the best schools and followed in his footsteps to become influential people in Lagos.

His son, the late Justice Idowu Olayimika Agoro, was the first Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice in 1968.

Justice Olayimika Agoro formed part of the group that put together the constitution of Lagos State after it was created on May 27, 1967.

Another of his son’s, the late Alhaji (Chief) Muftau Adisa Folawiyo Agoro, started Agoro Plumbing Works and was responsible for most of the plumbing works in Ikoyi.

AM Agoro’s daughter, Dr Oladoyin Ekue became a renowned eye specialist, while his sons, Gbolahan A. Agoro and Adeolayemi A. Agoro, both engineers, made their names in the field of engineering and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), respectively.

Another of his daughters, Mrs Folasade I. Merryman-Johnson, became a school proprietress, while Alhaja Olayinka Agoro made an impact in the area of commerce in Lagos.

AM Agoro has built a legacy, and his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have continued from where he stopped.

In memory of AM Agoro’s immense contribution to society, a yearly entrepreneurship lecture series is held to honour him.