Folahan is a governance and development professional with extensive experience in public financial management, business-enabling reforms, and gender and social inclusion initiatives across Nigeria and West Africa. He currently provides technical support to the Smallholder Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON) under the SPARK II project, working across five Nigerian states to strengthen advocacy campaigns, government relations, and organisational capacity.
Folahan has deep expertise in World Bank-funded reform programs. As Senior Project Officer on the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Technical Assistant Project, he provided technical support for subnational public financial management reforms across all 36 Nigerian states, focusing on budget preparation, procurement, revenue mobilisation, and audits. He subsequently served as Senior Technical Assistant on the $750 million State Action for Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) program, supporting nine states with reforms across land administration, tax administration, public-private partnerships, and investment promotion frameworks.
Prior to his World Bank program work, Folahan held leadership positions at BudgIT Foundation, where he managed natural resource governance programs and led advocacy campaigns on fiscal transparency, extractive industries governance, and illicit financial flows. He has also worked with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the Nigeria Governors’ Spouses Forum, and Oxfam International on initiatives related to agricultural financing, gender-based violence prevention, and service delivery improvements. His work emphasises practical, data-driven approaches to governance reform that improve accountability and service delivery at subnational levels.
He holds a PG Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Portsmouth and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at Ahmadu Bello University. Folahan has completed specialised training at institutions including the London School of Economics, University College London, Harvard Business School, and ETH Zürich.