State: Ogun

Ogun State sits in Nigeria’s southwest, with Abeokuta as its capital, a city famous for the massive granite outcrop at its center. It was created on 3 February 1976, out of the old Western State.

The state borders Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, and Osun, and its western edge runs along the international border with Benin Republic.

The Yoruba subgroups Awori, Egba, Ijebu, and Yewa make up most of the population, alongside smaller Ketu, Ohori, Ilaje, and Ikale communities.

Ogun has grown into one of Nigeria’s biggest industrial hubs, with factories lining the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Cement plants run by Dangote and Lafarge sit alongside consumer goods manufacturers like Nestle and Procter & Gamble, and farmers elsewhere grow cassava, cocoa, and maize.

Olumo Rock, the outcrop that once sheltered Egba refugees during 19th century wars, remains Abeokuta’s best known landmark, with a viewing platform now built into the rock face. Sungbo’s Eredo, an ancient earthwork wall stretching for kilometers, is believed by some to mark the burial site of the Queen of Sheba, though historians still debate its exact origins.

Ogun has produced an unusually long list of major Nigerian figures: musician and activist Fela Kuti, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, independence-era politician Obafemi Awolowo, boxer Anthony Joshua, singer Wizkid, and women’s rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.