Olatunji Adebowale Adenola started work with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture upon graduation from Ife. After his masters degree in 1978, he returned to the Ministry and served in various departments starting in Ibadan before being transferred to Kano.
He worked at the Rice Maize center, NCRI Ibadan as the coordinator. In 2000, he moved to Abuja; joining the National Strategic Grains Reserve department as the Deputy Director. He rose to the peak of his career in the Ministry and retired in 2007 as a Federal Director in charge of the department (similar to the role of Joseph in Egypt).
During his tenure as the director, Nigeria got linked with the World Food Programme (WFP) where the nation realized sizeable foreign exchange earnings from maize, sorghum and millet. These were used by the WFP as food aid to needy countries in Africa.
Other achievements include:
1.Construction and completion of additional 5 Nos 25,000Mt capacity silos at Ibadan, Ezzilo, Kaduna, Ilorin and Jos.
2. The establishment of Committee on Guarantee Minimum Price,GMP.
3. The storage of food items (garri).
4. Encouraged the construction of one(1) MT on farm storage for small holder farmers.
5. Annual training in collaboration with United state of American's USAID Commodity, in both bulk and warehouse storages.
6. Increased the country storage reserves from about 35,000MT to 750,000MT.
Being very passionate about Maize and having studied it extensively, he was one of the founding members of the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN). In 1997, he became the president of Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN), a role he held for 20 years. When he initially wanted to handover, the members "planned a coup and left him alone; that he was going nowhere".
During his tenure, he achieved so many great feats for the farmers and the association; notably MAAN was invited by Federal Ministry of Agriculture to produce certified seeds. He ensured the association had a befitting permanent office and insisted that the leadership of MAAN be rotated and the successor mentored. Until his demise, he was the chairman of the board of trustees of the association.
He was a member of the American Society of Agronomy, Stakeholders Advisory Committee for International Maize and Wheat improvement Centre (CIMMYT) Mexico (where he represented Africa) and the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.
Below are some of his comments on Maize production in Nigeria:
https://maize.org/perspective-tunji-adenola/https://tribuneonlineng.com/poultry-industries-closing-shortage-maize-supply-%e2%80%95maan-president/https://www.foodbusinessafrica.com/nigerias-maize-output-may-fall-7-amid-rising-imports-pests/https://businessday.ng/agriculture/article/nigerias-fx-access-restriction-for-maize-to-attract-investments-experts/https://dailytrust.com/cbn-directs-dealers-to-exclude-maize-from-forex-list