Ogun State stands at a unique moment in its history. With its strategic location, industrial potential, agricultural endowments, expanding urban centers, and growing infrastructure base, it is increasingly becoming one of Nigeria’s most valuable subnational economies. From industrial estates and transportation corridors to government-owned land banks, investments, public enterprises, and strategic infrastructure, the assets of Ogun State represent decades of accumulated public sacrifice and investment.
As the state continues to attract investors and pursue modernization, an important question must be confronted: How do we ensure that public assets are utilized productively without allowing them to be cornered, transferred, or appropriated under the guise of private-sector participation?
This is not an argument against private investment. Indeed, Ogun State requires more private capital, more innovation, and more efficient management structures if it is to achieve its full economic potential. However, there is a fundamental distinction between attracting investment and surrendering public wealth. There is a difference between public-private partnership and public asset capture.
The assets of Ogun State do not belong to any governor, administration, political party, or group of politically connected interests. They belong to the people of Ogun State past, present, and future. Every governor is merely a temporary custodian entrusted with managing those assets on behalf of generations.
For this reason, Ogun State should pioneer what may be called the Ogun State Asset Protection and Stewardship Framework, a governance architecture designed to ensure that public assets remain protected, transparently managed, and deployed in the long-term interest of citizens.
The first step should be the establishment of a comprehensive Ogun State Asset Register. Every state-owned asset land, buildings, industrial estates, investment holdings, public enterprises, transportation infrastructure, and strategic economic assets should be digitally catalogued and made accessible to the public. Citizens cannot protect what they cannot see. Transparency begins with knowledge.
Secondly, Ogun State should establish an independent Asset Stewardship Commission by law. The commission should include representatives of the State House of Assembly, professional bodies, organized private sector groups, labour unions, traditional institutions, civil society organizations, and technical experts. Its mandate would be to evaluate all significant asset transactions, verify valuations, assess public interest implications, and ensure that no transaction proceeds without adequate scrutiny.
No strategic asset should be sold, leased, concessioned, or transferred without undergoing a rigorous and transparent valuation process. Independent valuers appointed through different channels should be required to determine fair market value, with all reports published before any decision is taken. The era of secret valuations and closed-door negotiations should have no place in a modern Ogun State.
Equally important is legislative oversight. Major transactions involving strategic public assets should require supermajority approval by the Ogun State House of Assembly after public hearings and stakeholder consultations. Assets built with public resources should never be disposed of solely through executive discretion.
Particular attention must be paid to beneficial ownership transparency. Any company seeking to acquire, lease, or manage a public asset must disclose its ultimate beneficial owners. Ogun State must ensure that no serving governor, deputy governor, commissioner, political appointee, family member, or proxy can directly or indirectly benefit from transactions conducted under their watch. Public office should never become a pathway to private acquisition of public wealth.
The state should also classify certain assets as Strategic Generational Assets that cannot be sold outright under any administration. These may include major land banks, water infrastructure, critical transportation assets, heritage sites, environmental reserves, and strategic industrial infrastructure. Where private-sector participation is necessary, arrangements should be structured through concessions, leases, management contracts, or joint ventures while ownership remains permanently with the people of Ogun State.
To deepen accountability, every proposed transaction should be published on a dedicated Ogun State Asset Transparency Portal. Citizens should have access to valuation reports, bidding documents, transaction terms, ownership disclosures, and performance obligations. Technology should become a tool of public oversight rather than administrative secrecy.
Furthermore, Ogun State should enact strong conflict-of-interest and post-tenure restrictions. Public officials who participate in asset disposal decisions should be prohibited from acquiring those assets directly or indirectly for a significant period after leaving office. Such safeguards are standard practice in mature democracies and are necessary to prevent abuse.
Most importantly, there must be consequences for violations. Any attempt to undervalue assets, conceal ownership structures, manipulate procurement processes, or facilitate insider transactions should attract severe civil and criminal penalties. Without enforcement, transparency remains merely aspirational.
Ogun State has an opportunity to lead Nigeria by creating a governance model that balances investment attraction with asset protection. Such a framework would reassure investors, strengthen public confidence, reduce corruption risks, and preserve wealth for future generations.
As our state grows, the temptation to convert public assets into private fortunes will inevitably arise. The answer is not to reject private-sector participation but to build institutions strong enough to ensure that participation serves the public interest.
The central principle is simple: Governors are trustees, not owners. Administrations are temporary, but public assets are permanent.
Before any strategic state asset is transferred, concessioned, leased, or privatized, four questions should be answered publicly:
- Is the process transparent?
- Was the transaction competitively procured?
- Does it increase value for the people of Ogun State?
- Will future generations consider it fair and beneficial?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then the transaction should not proceed.
The future prosperity of Ogun State will not be measured merely by the assets we attract, but by the wisdom with which we protect, manage, and preserve the assets we already possess. The inheritance of future generations deserves nothing less.
Otunba Segun Showunmi
The Alternative.
