Permanent Secretary of BPD

Mrs Folashade Aina Thomas - Orogan
Mrs Folashade was born on the 8th of November, 1970 into the family of Chief Adegboyega Adeleke, a renowned legal practitioner and Chief (Mrs.) Tola Adeleke. She is an indigene of Lagos Island, Lagos Island Local Government Area of Lagos State, while her mother hails from the Brazilian Quarters, Campos, Lagos Island. She is a Christian.
She had her nursery and primary education at University of Lagos Staff School (1973-1982), secondary education at Our Lady of Apostles, Yaba (1982-1987) where she served as Library Prefect.Folashade obtained her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Lagos State University, Ojo in 1992, was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1995 and obtained her Master of Laws (LL.M) from the University of Lagos, Akoka in 1999.

Immediately after her National Youth Service, she joined her father's Chambers as a Solicitor and Barrister, handling high-profile matters in oil and gas, banking, mergers and acquisitions, land and criminal litigation. In 1997, she was employed as Company Secretary/Legal Adviser at Boulevard Finance Limited for two years. She later joined the public sector as Senior Legal Officer at Lagos Water Corporation where she handled litigation and was part of the legal team on World Bank-assisted projects. She joined the mainstream Public Service in 2003 and was deployed to the Ministry of Justice, Commercial Law Directorate, as part of the negotiation teams for the Lekki-Epe Expressway and Waste-to-Wealth projects, specializing in Public-Private Partnerships. In 2009, she was deployed to New Towns Development Authority as Legal Adviser, securing out-of-court settlements on capital development levies and negotiating infrastructure developments in Government Schemes till 2015.
She was posted to Legislative Drafting as Deputy Head in 2015, redeployed to Commercial Law in 2019, became Head, Legislative Drafting in 2025 and was redeployed to head Commercial Law Directorate in June 2026 until her appointment as Permanent Secretary on 13 th October 2026 by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.
Mrs. Thomas-Orogan distinguished herself in Public Private Partnerships(PPP) negotiations, notably the Lekki-Epe Expressway, pioneered out-of-court settlement mechanisms at NTDA that boosted revenue, and provided qualitative leadership in legislative drafting for Lagos State laws.
She is a member of the International Bar Association, the Nigerian Bar Association and a member of the Ikoyi Club. She has attended numerous local and international courses on Public-Private Partnerships and infrastructure financing.

She enjoys reading and travelling.

She is married to Barrister Dele Akinola Thomas-Orogan and blessed with three children – Engineer Agboola, Barrister Damilola and Engineer Timilehin Thomas-Orogan.