Ogun Moves to Establish Safety Commission, Announces Statewide Industrial Safety Audit
The Ogun State Government has announced plans to transform its existing Safety Office into a fully empowered Ogun State Safety Commission as part of efforts to strengthen industrial safety, regulatory compliance and environmental protection across the state.
The Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, disclosed this while delivering the keynote address at the Training Workshop for Safety Personnel held on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. The workshop was themed "Industrial Resilience and Safety Governance: Building a Culture of Compliance, Prevention and Sustainable Growth."
Oresanya said the proposed Safety Commission would provide a modern and responsive regulatory framework capable of addressing the demands of Ogun State's rapidly expanding industrial sector.
According to him, the Commission will strengthen policy implementation, improve technical oversight, enhance enforcement mechanisms, promote stakeholder collaboration and align the state's safety practices with international standards in occupational safety and environmental protection.
The commissioner noted that Ogun State's growing reputation as one of Nigeria's leading industrial hubs has attracted significant local and foreign investments, creating jobs and boosting economic growth. However, he stressed that industrial development must be accompanied by robust safety systems, emergency preparedness and effective risk management.
"Economic growth without safety is unsustainable. Development without resilience is vulnerable," he said.
Oresanya revealed that officials of the Ministry of Environment recently conducted extensive inspections, facility assessments and preliminary safety audits across industries in the state. While many organisations have documented safety policies, he observed that there remains a wide gap between written procedures and actual workplace practices.
He said many companies still treat safety as a compliance requirement rather than an organisational culture, adding that risks are often addressed only after incidents occur instead of being prevented through proactive measures.
To address these shortcomings, the commissioner unveiled the Ministry's 2026–2028 Strategic Safety Transformation Agenda, which focuses on continuous risk assessment, proactive leadership, competent personnel and measurable safety performance indicators.
As part of the new strategy, he announced the commencement of a Statewide Industrial Safety Audit Programme, describing it as a tool for continuous improvement rather than a punitive exercise.
According to him, the audit programme will establish measurable safety benchmarks across industries, identify emerging risks before they result in accidents and support organisations in developing practical solutions to improve operational resilience.
He expressed optimism that, at the end of the implementation cycle, every industrial facility operating in Ogun State would adopt measurable safety performance standards that place safety alongside production, quality and profitability as key performance indicators.
The commissioner also explained that the training workshop was designed to strengthen participants' competencies in strategic safety governance, applied risk engineering, incident investigation and root cause analysis, as well as the development of practical Safety Improvement Plans.
Addressing the participants, Oresanya described safety personnel as risk managers, change agents and organisational leaders whose decisions could determine whether workers return home safely each day.
He urged them to use the knowledge gained from the workshop to transform workplace attitudes, strengthen operational discipline and institutionalize a culture where safety becomes everyone's responsibility.
Calling for stronger collaboration between government and industry, the commissioner maintained that safety is a shared responsibility requiring sound government policies, responsible corporate practices, competent safety professionals and active participation by workers.
He challenged participants to become ambassadors of safety transformation within their organisations, ensuring that the Safety Improvement Plans developed during the workshop serve as practical guides for continuous improvement and future statewide safety audits.
Oresanya reaffirmed the Ogun State Government's commitment to promoting safe, sustainable and responsible industrial development before formally declaring the training workshop open.
