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With Funsho Arogundade
When the roll call of Nigeria’s biggest names in oil and gas is written, Jubril Adewale Tinubu’s name will not merely appear. It is likely to command a sizable space on the list. Tinubu has spent years doing what he knows best: making bold moves, building businesses, striking strategic deals and leaving his fingerprints on an industry where only the toughest survive. He has not simply reshaped the oil and gas landscape.
In many respects, he has helped reinvent its possibilities and taken Nigeria’s energy story beyond the familiar borders of the country. But there is a plot twist.
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Away from the sharp suits, boardroom battles, billion-naira conversations and the business of moving energy across borders is a rather unexpected Tinubu —a man with music running through his veins.
Indeed, if fate had taken him down a different road and the oil industry had somehow missed out on his services, chances are he would have found himself behind a music console, producing beats, and creating sounds. The energy tycoon’s love for music is not the polite kind reserved for executives who occasionally nod to a good song at a party. It is genuine, instinctive and deeply rooted. Tinubu has an ear for good music and an appreciation for rhythm that could easily have made him a studio regular. And then there is the dancing.
Those who know him closely will tell you that Tinubu is not one of those men who merely stands at a party, gently tapping his feet while pretending to be busy with his phone. No, the man can actually move. Unfortunately, the taxing demands of the corporate world have conspired against this entertaining side of him. Board meetings have replaced dance floors. Strategy sessions have taken the place of studio sessions. International business engagements have kept his dancing shoes firmly tucked away.
For years, the Oando Plc co-founder and Group Chief Executive has been far too busy building enterprises and making consequential business decisions to worry about showing the world that the man who can discuss energy with the sharpest minds in the industry can also surrender to a good beat. But those who know him well insist that the rhythm is still there. Perhaps all he needs is a little less boardroom and a little more boogie. Until then, the oil industry can keep enjoying the oil king fondly called ‘JAT’ —the dealmaker, the strategist, the builder who has helped shape Nigeria’s energy future. But somewhere beneath the polished corporate exterior is a music producer waiting for his encore, and a dancer whose shoes may still have a few moves left in them.
