The City Within a City: How Mikano Built an Industrial Empire in Ogun State
By Emmanuel C. Nzenwa
Ogun State is home to an industrial city where cars are assembled, generators and marine equipment are handled, and several other manufacturing businesses operate from one complex.
This is Karameh Industrial City.
Located at Riverview Estate, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Isheri-Ifo, Ogun State, Karameh is an industrial complex established by Mikano International in 2019.
The scale is easy to miss from the road. Mikano says the complex covers about 75,000 square metres and contains eight warehouses, each built to support its expanding industrial operations.
But what makes Karameh interesting is not just its size.
The cars are only one part of the story.
Inside the industrial city is Mikano Motors, where the company’s automobile assembly operations are based. Mikano entered automobile assembly in 2018 and subsequently partnered with international automobile manufacturers, including Geely, as an authorised assembler in Nigeria.
But Mikano’s industrial journey actually goes further back.
In 1998, more than two decades before Karameh City was established, the company says it set up its first assembly line for power generators in Nigeria.
Today, Mikano’s power division deals in diesel and gas generating sets ranging from 9 kVA to 4,000 kVA, while the company describes itself as one of Africa’s largest assemblers of power-generating sets.
And Karameh has continued to expand beyond automobiles and power.
Mikano says the industrial city is also home to marine assemblies, food production, medical production and brake-pad manufacturing.
So, when you see a Mikano vehicle on a Nigerian road, there is a much bigger industrial story behind the name.
From power-generation equipment to automobiles, medical products, marine operations and other manufacturing activities, Karameh Industrial City represents a different side of Nigeria’s industrial landscape — one that many people driving along the Lagos-Ibadan corridor may not even realise is there.
This is more than a car assembly story. It is a glimpse into how industrial capacity is taking shape in Ogun State.
Karameh Industrial City, Riverview Estate, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Isheri-Ifo, Ogun State.
