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If there is one Nigerian who has every reason to yearly celebrate his birthday, that man is billionaire business mogul, Dr. Mike Adenuga. The Chairman of Globacom, a leading telecoms firm in Africa, is one of the richest Africans by any stretch of imagination. However, Adenuga, who turned 67 on Wednesday, April 29, by his antecedents and characteristic manner, avoided anything extraordinary, but marked the day quietly. Spotlight gathered that the publicity-shy billionaire — who has become a business colossus and the barometer for benchmarking the country’s economic and philanthropic landscape, and indeed, that of Africa, just took the day as a regular day of work. He was said to be behind his desk working incredibly and nurturing his empire to greater heights but later in the day he spent some time with his very few close friends at his exquisite Bellisima On The Waterfront mansion inside Banana Island, Lagos while hundreds of others who could not be with him in person celebrated him via the traditional and social media.
It is no gainsaying that Adenuga is a success story in every ramification. A leader among men, the man called Chairman of Chairmen, has always avoided putting himself above others. To some, he is elusive or evasive, but those who know him attest to his uncommon humility and shyness. But there is unanimity of opinions that the self-effacing mogul has created phenomenally successful businesses and changed the world in significant ways. With interests in banking, energy, telecommunication, oil exploration, aviation, construction and real estate, pundits have even posited that ordinarily, in top business schools across the continent and beyond, the corporate exploits of Adenuga would naturally be a veritable case-study for academic researches. It is on record that his Globacom revolutionised the telecoms industry in Nigeria and has succeeded in meeting the aspirations of the country. But aside Globacom, Adenuga’s cash cow is Conoil Producing Limited. With over 26 years of experience in entire E&P value chain, Adenuga’s Conoil Producing remains one of the most prosperous oil exploration and production companies in the upstream sector of Nigeria oil industry. It is the first indigenous company in Nigeria to explore, discover and produce oil in large commercial quantities, with the fastest on-stream production activity from licence award to first production in only nine months. The oil firm operates six highly prospective blocks in the Niger Delta, while its mobile offshore production unit named ‘Auntie Julie’ after Adenuga’s late mother, was commissioned in May 1999, and has the daily oil production capacity of about 80,000 BOPD.
Some industry watchers even revealed that Adenuga’s numerous huge investments globally has placed him above others on the continent. His Mike Adenuga Foundation is one of the best known social innovation organisations in the country bringing succour to many people and institutions. For Adenuga, a recipient of Nigeria’s second highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), success comes with the weight of humility thus he remains impressively humble and treads a rare path to acclaim, by many, as one of the wealthiest men on the continent.
