Today's Make Nigeria Better Series takes us to Ogun State, nicknamed the Gateway State because it links Lagos with the rest of the country

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Ogun is the one state in Nigeria that is cashing in on its location big time. As we speak, about 90% of the foreign direct investment that goes into Nigeria goes to Lagos State and Ogun is benefiting from the spillover of this. Moving forward, Ogun needs to cash in on this a lot more, kind of similar to the way Mexico has benefitted from the expansion of the US automobile industry

[2] Nigeria is a 36-cylinder economy but alas at the moment, only one of them is firing and operating anywhere near to full capacity. It is clear that Ogun will be the first state to follow Lagos into becoming self-reliant, self-funding and not dependent on those shameless parasitic oil handouts know as federal allocation. However, a lot of investment in infrastructure needs to take place to realise this dream, so the Ogun State government has its work cut out

[3] For starters, given the chronic lack of housing in Lagos State, Ogun needs to build dedicated housing projects across its southern border areas in places like Mowe, Sango-Otta, Omu, etc. What we need to see are purpose-built towns with mega housing estates that can provide accommodation for millions of workers who work in Lagos State. Governor Dapo Abiodun should be looking to woo every single property developer on the planet to Ogun State to participate in this project

[4] Governor Abiodun also needs to launch an Ogun Railway Company. This should be a franchise that runs trains every hour to Lagos from towns like Ifo, Ewekoro, Abeokuta, Sango-Otta, Ijebu Ode, Sagamu, Ikenne, Ipara, Ifo, etc. Basically, you should be able to live in any of these places and easily work in Lagos, knowing that there is a train service that will get you to work within an hour

[5] To take Ogun State to the next level of industrial development, the state government needs to do whatever it takes to develop the Iwopin Deep Sea Port. Many Nigerians may not know it but Iwopin is the toe of Ogun State, the one small point where it borders the Atlantic Ocean in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area. What stops the Ogun State government building a port the size of Apapa there? This one should have a freight rail link, to avoid all the congestion and environmental problems of Apapa

[6] In the east of Ogun State, there is a lot of scope for agricultural expansion in the Yewa region of the territory. Food crops like ofada rice, maize, cassava, yams, plantains, bananas and cash crops like cocoa, kolanuts, rubber, palm oil, tobacco, cotton and timber are all grown there. Urban centres in the area like Ilaro, Ikpokia, Oke-Odan, Ado-Odo and Imeko should be turned into homes of industrial estates that house processing plants. Indeed, Ogun State is the number one producer of kolanuts and ofada rice in Nigeria, so should be home to the world’s largest processing plants of the two commodities

[7] Ogun State is also home to a lot of building raw materials like limestone, chalk, phosphate and gravel. Were I the Ogun State governor, I would build the world’s largest aggregate plant in somewhere like Kajola, Odogbolu or Ikenne where every building company and contractor in the country would have to come and buy their materials

[8] Tourism is another area where Ogun State can make millions. The Ijebu, Oju-Ode Festival is fast establishing itself as the closest thing Nigeria has to the Notting Hill or Rio carnivals. This needs to be built on and invested in. Ijebu Ode needs a major facelift in this regard with new hotels, restaurants, bars, amusement arcades, etc

[9] Ogun State also has a historic tradition of metalworking and blacksmiths. Indeed Ogun is also the name of the god for metalworking in the local Yoruba culture, similar to the Greek Hephaestus or the Roman god Vulcan. I would like to see the Ogun State government cash in on this by building a steelworks there. Somewhere like Kajola, which is home to a railway carriage assembly plant is desperately crying out for such a facility

[10] Intellectually, Abeokuta in particular has always been at the vanguard of developments in Nigeria. It was the centre of the first freed slaves colony in Nigeria that produced the Ransome-Kuti’s and Soyinkas and were it not for land disputes would have been home to Nigeria’s first university before it was taken to Ibadan. However, Abeokuta is still home to the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, popularly known as Aro. Were I the Ogun State governor I would come up with a plan to make Abeokuta the global centre of every known tropical disease and ailment on the planet. Just imagine the boost this would provide for the healthcare industries and the pharmaceutical trade.