Black History Month: Oluwafemi Ojo
Program: Master of Food and Resource Economics
February 2025 – Oluwafemi Ojo first learned about climate change from the documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey in 2016. One episode showed how climate change is an existential threat to humanity, which left a lasting impression on him particularly because shortly after airing, his home state in Nigeria was struck by drought.
“There was about six months when it didn’t rain and it started right after the planting season, so all the farmers’ seeds decayed in the soil,” Ojo said. “I felt so concerned thinking we would be in a lot of trouble.”
With so much of Nigeria’s GDP tied to agriculture, Ojo felt motivated him to learn about how climate can impact livelihoods.
He studied economics at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria for his undergraduate degree and completed an honours thesis on the economic implications of climate change on Nigeria’s agricultural output. His study highlighted the sensitivity of Nigeria’s agriculture to climate shocks and the lack of mitigating strategies.
“My hypothesis was proven true, showing that when temperature rose beyond a certain threshold, yields would be negatively impacted.”
“Nigeria is currently experiencing the worst food inflation in its history, with food inflation rising 40%. Some of the structural factors causing inflation include climate change and bad policies.”
Ojo came to UBC through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars program. In this next stage of his academic journey, he believes studying in the Master of Food and Resource Economics program will give him the knowledge and skills to contribute to effective policymaking aimed at strengthening food security in Nigeria.
His passion for environmental sustainability led him to co-found the Pale Blue Dot Initiative, a volunteer not-for-profit organization aimed at promoting climate action among young people in Nigeria.
In addition, Ojo volunteers for the U.S.-based Foundation for Climate Restoration and U.K.-based Extinction Rebellion.
“With my masters degree, I want to help develop policies that can reverse the tide of the perpetual low productivity plaguing Nigeria’s food and agriculture sector, and improve the status of Nigeria as a country.”
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Tagged with: Equity Diversity Inclusion and Indigeneity, Master of Food and Resource Economics