Posted by By Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe on
In front of the Mike Adenuga Towers in Lagos is the grotesque, larger-than-life statue of a bull cast in solid iron. It is more than a beautiful work of art adorning a majestically imposing skyscraper.
In front of the Mike Adenuga Towers in Lagos is the grotesque, larger-than-life statue of a bull cast in solid iron. It is more than a beautiful work of art adorning a majestically imposing skyscraper.
The mighty edifice and the bull are twin testimonies to the tenacity and the indomitable spirit of one of the richest men, not just in Nigeria, but the whole world. His name might not be mentioned in the Forbes' list of world's richest men, but everybody knows how deep Mike Adenuga's pocket is. And how quiet he wants to keep it.
When it comes to money, enterprise and audacity of vision, he is in good company with Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Nigerian foremost entrepreneur who was recently listed among the world's richest men by Forbes magazine. He is also in the good company for another reason with Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia State.
Now, what the three men of money have in common is the fact that they were all born in April under the Taurus zodiac sign of the bull. Otunba Mike Adenuga will be 55 on April 29. Aliko Dangote was 51 on April 10 and Dr. Orji Kalu would be 48 on April 21.
The three great men are held together by another umbilical cord: business. The three started out in life as commodity traders and ended up billionaires who have moved on to the zenith of different corporate endeavors…manufacturing, communication, banking, shipping, oil, real estate and other forms of businesses.
They are however not only joined together by zodiac signs and business, the three men are also inevitably friends…friends of a type. Whereas Kalu is a friend to both Adenuga and Dangote, the two corporate giants, Dangote and Adenuga maintain merely cordial acquaintance. While Adenuga is something of a recluse, preferring his own company most of the time or company of those very close to him, Dangote is more accessible and casual. Between the three bulls, it is Kalu the tycoon cum politician who is a bridge.
Kalu explains the level of friendship: 'We have been friends from a long time. I became Aliko's friend right in the early ‘80s when I was a student at the University of Maiduguri. With Mike, our friendship started when he was living close to me on 6A Adeleke Adedoyin Street in Victoria Island, Lagos. This is where all of us came to become friends. Dangote and Mike were not close, but I was close to both of them. I was a kind of bridge between two of them."
The trio were commodity traders, involved in the importation of assorted goods - sugar, rice, tomato puree and any fast-moving product in demand. At that point, Dangote was the leader of the trio who had a mafia-like stranglehold on the commodity market in the Nigeria of that era and pushed out competition.
'Aliko was the leader," Kalu explains, 'but you cannot dominate without supporters. Basically, we fine-tuned a strategy where we were selling our commodities against wholesale traders who wanted to push us out of the market. There wasn't a mafia, as such. It was just price competition which we used in sending away newcomers into the business."
Their strategy for fighting competition was to import in volume and thereby bring down the price. For example, 'Dangote would go and bring in 25,000 metric ton shipload of sugar. Somebody else (Kalu?) would bring 12,000 metric tons. The price and freight of those commodities cannot be the same. Many people don't understand it that way. People would bring sugar in containers to come and compete with us who were bringing the commodity in vessels. It could never be the same. As an additional advantage, we were borrowing in offshore banks where interest rate was like 3 or 4 percent. No Nigerian bank would have given us that credit facility.
The people we bought the goods from served as our guarantors in those mega banks outside Nigeria. Our competitors were borrowing from Nigerian banks where the exchange rate was higher. All this impacted on how cheaply we brought in the product."
Before we move on with our story, let's delve once more into the aspect of horoscope to ask: What does it mean to be born in April? And what does being born under the sign of a bull have to do with success in life and in business?
'Bulls are very ambitious people," explains Kalu, who apparently believes that the zodiac sign exerts some kind of influence on people's lives and destinies. 'I can tell you that anything anybody who is Taurus touches turns into gold. Whatever they set their minds to do always becomes successful. In fact, it is said that in the mid-eighties, the turnover of each of the big commodity traders were as high and at a point higher than the turnovers of the leading manufacturing companies in the country. At a point that the UAC was considered the biggest conglomerate in the country, Dangote's turnover as a commodity trader was far higher. Kalu's Slok Nigeria, then a mainly multi-commodity trading company, at a point in the 80s became the biggest customer/depositor in the defunct Allied Bank which then rank among the big banks. Then, the bank was managed by Alhaji Murtar Bello.
Says Kalu: 'In those days, we were proud to be called traders! We used to laugh when we see the annual turnovers of some big companies because we were doing bigger turnovers."
Inevitably, the three bulls made their first major breaks as traders. Like Kalu and Dangote, Adenuga got into various commodities like tomatoe puree, wine, rice, textiles (lace materials) car stereos and virtually anything sellable.
Kalu explains: 'Aliko made his money in commodities and he has not left commodities. His various manufacturing companies are still producing many of those things he was shipping into the country as a commodity trader. Adenuga started out with commodities and then went into oil and banking before coming into communications. Today, Adenuga has made his money in communications and he is not going to leave communications. Globacom is going to become one of the largest telecoms companies in the next two years. Aliko's cement factory will become one of the largest in the world. So you see, those born under the Taurus zodiac sign always have their eyes on top."
Among the 'Three Bulls of April" as we would call them in this piece, Adenuga is the only one who had adopted the bull as his totem and as a brand identity. Admirers call him the Bull for his spirit of persistence, for his rambunctious energy and for his never-say-die mentality. His complimentary cards are adorned with the golden image of the bull. The letters he writes carry the insignia of a bull. The sign on the door of his office has the gold mark of the bull. And he lives up to the image of a bull to the letter in his aggressiveness and his can-do attitude to business. He is like the Daniel Amokachie, the aggressive, goal-getting soccer star formerly of the Super Eagles and Everton, popularly called, 'The Bull." But Adenuga has no comparison. He is simply a man in his own world, a dreamer who dreams the impossible and makes it possible, a bull who would rampage through the wall, if he has to do that to attain a goal.
Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, a close associate and Mike Adenuga's clearing agents since his early days as a trader in commodities says of him: 'He takes risks and he is ready to stick it to the end. He never gives up. Is there anything he touches that doesn't turn into gold? He is such a determined person. He is always charging like a bull. When he wakes up in the morning, he thinks about his business and nothing but his business. He is not a socialite. You can never catch him attending parties. He works Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday…He goes on and on like that facing his business."
Alhaji Aliko Dangote for religious reason might not adopt the bull or any statue as his totem, but he has the bullish instinct of Adenuga when it comes to achieving business success. Like Adenuga, Dangote's credo is hard work and hard work and tenacity.
He summed up his credo in an interview with us: 'I believe in hard work. Hard work is the key to success in life. Once you are ready to work and you are consistent, you would make money. The other point is that people are making a lot of mistakes.
Two things don't go together. Enjoyment and money-making. These things don't work together. You must choose one. And follow that one aggressively. You must reach a point before you start that enjoyment. These two things don't go together at all. For anybody who wants to enjoy himself too much: going to parties, buying this one, buying that one, impressing the society people - let me not say girls - and you want to also work hard and make money, they don't work together. You make sure you give up one and concentrate on one."
On his part, Kalu, has the same doggedness in his approach to achieving a set goal. If he wants something, he is very persistent about it, until he gets it. For him, the word impossible doesn't exist. For him, everything is doable, everything is achievable, if you put your mind to it and you work hard at it. The problem with Kalu is that many don't take him seriously when he expresses his determination to do something. It is only when he has accomplished his mission that people begin to look at him with shock, surprise and envy, depending on whether you are a friend or foe.
For example, when Kalu decided to partially quit business and make a foray into the arena of politics to contest as a governor, many thought it was just a joke. But he surprised many by winning an election to be the governor of Abia State, twice.
The story of Orji Kalu is the story of a man who would probably have been at par business-wise and money-wise with his two fabulously rich friends, Dangote and Adenuga, if he had not allowed himself to be lured into politics. Kalu often tells his close associates that going into politics has made him a poorer businessman, compared to what he would have been and the wealth he would have made or created, if he had not gone into the topsy-turvy world of politics.
It was not as if he was not warned against going into the murky waters of politics. Kalu's father warned him. And his own wife, Dr. Ifeoma Kalu warned him. In his political biography, ORJI KALU: Leadership Lessons From a Master Strategist, published in 2001, Kalu confessed in page 100: 'My wife never liked my going into politics till today. My first major battle was with my wife and my father too. My wife convinced him that politics was a very dangerous adventure. She didn't want the military to come tomorrow and start confiscating our property which we acquired long before we became governor.
Like our personal residence in Victoria Island Lagos which we bought in 1990, or our office block in Apapa which we acquired in 1989. Or our other properties in Lagos and Abuja. Somebody could come tomorrow and say we used government money to acquire them." Her words turned out prophetic with the interim forfeiture order obtained by the EFCC which basically purports to take over everything Kalu ever owned as contained in his assets declaration forms since 1999 when he came into office as a governor.
Even Dangote who believed that a businessman's involvement in politics should not go beyond that of the role of a quiet kingmaker, also warned him to concentrate on business rather than dabble into politics. Kalu recalls Dangote's warning: 'I remember Aliko Dangote telling me not to go. He said we had better stay where we were. But I said no, I will try, because it is a call for service and that we should be able to give service to our people, instead of staying behind the door. Somebody like Dangote has dealt with every government in this country. And the same thing goes for Adenuga. So you can see that they have no interest in politics at all. I don't know what pushed me into having so much interest in politics."
As for Adenua, politics and business simply do not mix well. A good businessman, in Adenuga's view, should simply stay out of politics and mind his business. But the trio, however, believe in contributing money to favoured political candidates, but to do so as quietly as possible. Over the years, Kalu had perfected this art in various countries, being a heavy donor to one of the parties in US, ANC in South Africa, parties in Ghana and some other West African countries. But such donations are by no means simply altruistic; there were always underlying business motivations, but whether they are fulfilled or not is another story.
For Kalu, however, politics has enriched him mentally, morally and intellectually. Politics has made him a complete man who has learnt a lot from the corridors of power about the intricacies of leading and governing people and given him a deeper grasp of the riddles of human beings.
Like the stories of most great men, the story of the Three Bulls of April originates from humble beginnings. Take the case of Kalu who was rusticated as a student at the University of Maiduguri and had to ply the streets of Maiduguri selling palm oil and then moving on to furniture business before he hit big time when he moved to Lagos. Or take the case of Mike Adenuga who once worked in restaurants and drove gypsy taxis (what is called kabu-kabu in Lagos) on the streets of New York to make a living. And on his part, Dangote spent his childhood as an orphan brought up by his grandparents who gave him the initial capital to go into trading.
Talking about his humble beginnings and how he started business, Dangote told us: 'No business is too small to do. As they say, Rome was not built in a day. For me, I started small as a trader in cement. Then I left cement around 1978. Because there was this armada and cement was very difficult to get at that time. I had my own money which my grandfather gave me free, but then he gave me also an additional loan of 500,000 naira which was big money in those days. With 500,000 naira in those days, you could buy yourself ten Mercedes Benz cars. Mercedes then was 5,000 naira. I am talking about Nigeria in the year 1978. Volkswagen Beetle was sold for 900 to 1,000 naira. It was a substantial amount of money then. It was a loan that I was supposed to pay whenever I was okay - probably after three years or four years. But I paid the money within six months."
Every businessman has a turning point or series of turning points. For Mike Adenuga, the earliest turning point of his business life was when he came home to Nigeria after his studies in America and went into the importation of removable car stereos which was an innovation in the era of oil boom, when Nigerian workers were awash with the financial windfall called 'Udoji Award." People were buying cars but they were losing their car stereo to thieves. Adenuga saw in this a window of opportunity and starting bringing into Nigeria removable car stereos to solve the problem of car stereo thieves. All you did after parking your car was to remove the stereo, so that there would be nothing to attract the thieves and tempt them into breaking into your car.
Another turning point for Mike Adenuga who started business as a 'Jack of all trades" was when in the course of a flight from New York to Lagos, he sat fortuitously in the business class next to a manufacturer of lace materials in Austria. Adenuga tells his story in our book, Nigeria's Marketing Memoirs: 'I went on a trip to New York and when I was returning, I missed my flight on British Airways.
So I had to fly Swiss Air and luckily I sat next to a man who owned one of the biggest lace manufacturing factories in Austria. We were talking and he got me interested in importing laces. I sold laces for a while. After that I started importing tomato, vegetable oil, wine and all sorts of things. That was how I started. In those days, for you to really survive, you had to be a Jack of all trades."
The Jack-of-all-trades mentality has dogged Mike Adenuga subsequently such that today, he is into everything. From banking to oil, to real estate, to GSM, Adenuga dominates everything he surveys. He used to be as faceless as the Roman millionaire Abramovich who wasn't known until he bought the Premiership club Chelsea.
Such was the mystique then of Adenuga that his photograph could hardly be found or used in the media. But today, all has changed. His incursion into telecommunication business via the massively popular brand Globacom which introduced per second billing into the Nigerian GSM market, has given him so much exposure and so much popularity.
His daughter Bella Adenuga admits this fact in our forthcoming book, In Search of Mike Adenuga. 'My dad has always been a kind of quiet person," says Bella. 'It was Globacom that shot him into the limelight."
For Dangote, the turning point, by his own admission, was when he moved from being a trader of commodities into a manufacturer of the goods he used to import, namely salt, sugar, pasta and cement. He told us in one of the series of interviews with him: 'The biggest move where our organization moved at a supersonic speed was when we moved from trading to manufacturing. We thought trading would give the most money. But honestly, trading doesn't give money. There is more money in manufacturing. When many people understand, I am sure they would try and move into manufacturing. There is more money in there, but industry is risky.
'When we went into manufacturing, we started with salt. We went into building eleven factories at the same time. We had a lot of cash. We didn't have any teething problem, because we went into goods that we were already importing and trading on. We didn't really create something new. We were importing pasta, so we produced pasta.
'For us, it was just to convince the consumers or the Nigerian public that the one we are producing here is as good as the one we were importing. And also to hide under that name Dangote, because it is a very good brand. That is why whatever we sell today under the brand, it sells very well. We were importing sugar, so we decided to manufacture sugar. That is what we did."
For Kalu, the turning point of his business life was going into politics. With a hint of laments, Kalu says, ' They have left me behind, but they have not left me totally."
He continues; 'I am still very strong. What happened is that when we were entering government, I was the only governor who came into power with (the ownership of) two banks in terms of majority shares. I lost the two banks because of Obasanjo. I was also the only governor with oil bloc and I lost that too because of Obasanjo. I was a governor who came into office with crude oil contracts. I had been lifting crude oil for years and I lost it all to Obasanjo. I was the only governor who came into office with the ownership of supply boats which were chartered by oil companies. He cancelled everything. The only shipping contracts he could not cancel were the ones that involved multinationals like Exxon Mobil.
'Such was Obasanjo's wickedness towards me that if he saw peppermint and he was told the peppermint was owned by Orji Kalu, he would ban it the following day. The ban on imported fruit juice was all because of me. He was told that we are major importers of fruit juices! But we give glory to God, because I am not worse off. Our shipping company is the largest indigenous company in Nigeria and we are planning as from next year to commission the building of the largest Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) in the U.S. which no Nigerian company has till date. Nigerian companies in the vessel business will be seeing something different. With that vessel, the cabotage law will favour Nigeria. Now the cabotage law is for the foreign companies."
IBB factor
All the Three Bulls of April have what can be called the 'IBB factor" working to their advantage. By that is meant that General Ibrahim Babingida who was a common friend of the three, helped them tremendously in his tenure as the military President of Nigeria. None of them can forget the benevolence of Babangida who opened the door for them to prosper in business. Through Babangida's liberal policy, some or all of the three were able to obtain licences to operate banks and to have oil blocs. For Kalu and Adenuga, getting oil lifting rights from Babangida's regime was their major turning point in business. Mike Adenuga had his Devcom Bank and Equitorial Trust Bank during Babangida's era. Both Kalu and Adenuga who were especially close to IBB, were involved in importing arms and ammunition for the military out of which they made a lot of money.
Explaining the relationship between Babangida and two of the April Bulls, particularly Mike Adenuga, and how he came into the business of importing arms for the military, General David Jemibewon says: 'Babangida himself likes young people who are enterprising. So when you have the chemistry of two people working well, then they get on well. Generally, Mike has many friends in the military. And I also want to believe he also has many friends in the press and outside the military. If you are my friend and I am a friend to A and B, and each time you come to see me as my friend, you also see A and B with me, the chances are that, with time you are likely to have some good rapport with A and B, arising from the relationship you have with me. So if you look deeply, Mike is a good friend of many of us, although at different levels or categories.
'As a friend, I could talk to whoever, in the military that I have a friend who is interested in doing this and that, I would appreciate it, if you can assist him. And in any case the military itself has no machinery to go directly to the manufacturer to purchase things like ammunition or whatever. It has to be somebody. And it doesn't matter which way you go, they would say you favoured one person or the other. But it has to be done by somebody."
Ibrahim Babangida himself admitted in an interview with us: 'It doesn't matter if, through me, I peddle some influence for my friends to get a job."
Babangida sees Adenuga as one of the friends who had stood by him, even when he was out of office. 'When I left office, a few of my friends honestly stood by me and I remain eternally grateful to them. Mike is one of them. Another man who doesn't want his name mentioned any time I speak on this issue is one of them. What I like about them is this: they appreciate whatever little effort you did for them and so, they don't abandon you. Some people will tell you, ‘ah, when I was in the office, a lot of people used to come to me, now I left office, you don't find anybody.' This is the Nigerian factor for you. But these characters remain close and I honestly remain grateful."
Obasanjo factor
If Babangida played a role in the life of the trio, so did the erstwhile Nigerian President Obasanjo - for the right and the wrong reasons. Orji Kalu's lamentation about Obasanjo's 'wickedness" in crippling his businesses has made headlines, particularly the banning of his SLOK Airlines from operating in Nigeria. In the case of Adenuga, Obasanjo made him go through Golgotha, canceling his GSM licence, making him to lose $20 million and employing all kinds of frustrations to deny him of licence, but eventually, sanity prevailed and he was rewarded with a basket of licences.
Reflecting on his ordeal, Adenuga told Newswatch magazine: 'I believe that there is more to what happened. As the only indigenous player, 100 percent wholly indigenous, and we are talking of the most sensitive and biggest business today, if five of us bidded and at the end of the day, three of us won and the only one that is 100 percent indigenous lost its licence, then something must be wrong somewhere…I think there were some forces behind it but I think it ended well."
Many a times, Adenuga would go to Aso Rock to beg Obasanjo or send emissaries, but the old man would not budge. Stories have it that Adenuga would prostrate for Obasanjo as a Yoruba and he would simply walk out on him. 'I would not give you my license!" the then emperor of Aso Rock would shout and curse. He simply wouldn't give Adenuga his licence. And he would tell him so, straight to his face. But in all this, Adenuga did not lose his sense of optimism and faith that he would regain his licence. People who know Adenuga, describe him as the eternal optimist who never loses hope on anything, when everyone else has given up hope.
Unlike Kalu and Adenuga, Dangote has a warmer story to tell about his relationship with Obasanjo.
'Former President Obasanjo and I became closer because his government is purely for people who would add value to the economy," he says. 'If I wasn't adding value to the economy, I can assure you that I wouldn't be as friendly as I am with Obasanjo. Eighty-five percent of my relationship with Obasanjo has to do with the economy of the country. Even when we sit down, eight-five percent of the time is spent discussing the economy. How do we move the economy forward?
'And I think I have to be really grateful. Let me share my experience on cement, for example. But for Obasanjo's encouragement and push, there is no way Obajana (Cement Factory) would have been possible at all. It was his push that made the difference."
Connections
All the three bulls would agree that having connections is the key to business success in Nigeria, particularly having connections in the government of the day. Dangote and Adenuga would tell you that to succeed as a businessman, you don't need to antagonize the government of the day.
'Every single government that comes in, we would be friendly with them, because we are government-friendly," says Dangote. 'That is No.1. And I believe each and every company is government-friendly. Let Jim Ovia go and be the enemy of government and you would see where Zenith Bank would go. Or UBA. Or First Bank. Even as conservative as First Bank, let them say they don't have anything to do with government and that they are on their own. Let them be coming out to say things against the government. And they would reap the consequence."
Mother
Between Kalu and Adenuga, you will find a strong maternal influence. Everybody who knows the Mike Adenuga's story, tells about a powerful mum who exerted influence on her son. It was the mother that gave him the first seed to start his business, shortly after returning home from America where he went to study. Niyi Adewunmi, Adenuga's close aide would tell you that in the event of any conflict with his boss, once Adenua's mother's name was invoked, the matter would end there. Mike dared not go against his mother. The only time he disobeyed her was when rather than sell off his oil licence, he went ahead to make a foray into oil exploration when the mother said seeking oil was like playing kalokalo (gambling) and that he was bound to lose. In the end he proved the mother wrong by striking oil at a time oil exploration was the exclusive preserve of expatriates. Striking oil was another turning point in the life of Mike Adenuga.
In the case of Kalu, such was the overpowering influence of the mum that many believed she was the power behind his throne in his days as governor. But Kalu disagrees he was ever tied to his mother's apron spring. He told us: 'What people think is not the true representation of things, but my mother is my mother. She never teleguided me. What people don't understand is that my mother had been in politics long before me. Do you know that when I was a governor, for six months, I may never see her? The present governor who was my Chief of Staff can testify to that."
Perhaps, that is the case. What, however, is undeniable is the strong bond between Kalu and his mother. During military regime when Kalu was detained for months on Abacha's orders, ostensibly because some arrested coup plotters were alleged to be his close friends in the military, Kalu's mother moved into detention camp to stay with her son. Some medical personnel attending to Kalu were amazed at the woman's tenacity.
'She would spread her cloth on the ground and sleep while Kalu slept on the hospital bed and she did that throughout his stay in the military hospital. Such maternal tenacity is uncommon."
The story of the Three Bulls can run on and on, into a whole book. But this is not the time for such a book. They all run a jet-style life, preferring to fly in their private jets. The only person you will find at the local airport occasionally flying in commercial flight is Dangote. You will not catch Kalu or Adenuga in a commercial flight.
Bella Adenuga told us that his father had no choice than to fly a private jet, because of his penchant for missing flights. She said: 'My dad is very busy. Usually when he attempts to fly commercial, he misses the flight about three times before he makes the flight. So the best means for him is to fly on his private jet."
The Saturday Sun recently reported the story of Dangote's close-shave with death, when his private jet developed engine problems in the skies of Angola.
While Dangote and Adenuga had their private jets, Kalu has none. His mother forbad him buying a private jet when was determined to acquire one about 14 years ago. She felt something untoward would happen to him if he was flying a private jet. Her hunch was so strong that Kalu gave in on one hand and defied her on the other. For those 14 years, Kalu had never flown commercial plane locally. He travels in a chartered plane all over the country.
India
Between Adenuga and Dangote, there is an affinity for India. When it comes to hiring manpower, Adenuga believes in bringing in Indians to manage his businesses. His Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Globacom is an Indian. So are his marketing strategists and his telecommunication technicians. And when asked about his business role model, Dangote similarly pointed to India, saying: 'I like what some Indian companies are doing. Companies like Reliance Group and the Tatas. I think we have something in common with the Reliance Group. They think big and they do big things. For example, they decided to go into supermarkets and they are sinking $5billion into supermarkets.
They have built a refinery of 660,000 barrels a day. It is a single refinery but the biggest in the world. And they are doubling the refinery. These are the kind of things that we are talking about. Ten years ago, they were not really that big. And in the '70s, the person who really started the business, their father, Ambani, was a petrol attendant. He was filling people with petrol in their cars when they visited the station. He used to live inside a small apartment with his family. And he dreamt of building a refinery. He died four years ago, but he fulfilled his dream. My dream should be translated faster than his own. But the only thing is that he is playing in a bigger market."
With his Globacom, Adenuga also has a vision of playing in a bigger market. Two men with common vision, but you would think Dangote and Adenuga should be close friends who, like birds of the same feathers, fly together. But to the contrary, Dangote would tell you: 'I haven't seen Mike for a very long time. I don't have his number. I don't know where to reach him. Even if you put a gun on my head and you ask me to lead you to Adenuga, I will never be able to. He is just nowhere to be found. Mike is a mystery to me."
The whole story of Three Bulls in itself sounds like some kind of mystery! It is a story of a new generation of Nigerians with faith in Nigeria, with a can-do spirit and an indomitable zeal to stay in Nigeria and succeed right here in Nigeria. In the words of Dangote: 'Yes, I believe in this country. I believe there is always going to be Nigeria. My faith and belief in this country is unshakeable. We have to live together in peace and not in pieces. Why are we important in the world today? It is because of our population. Population and our oil. It is not because the world loves the name Nigeria.
No. When was the last time you heard about Kuwait or Brunei? The importance of Nigeria is the market. 'It is a place that I believe has the best opportunities in the world. It might sound crazy, but yes, the opportunities in Nigeria are extremely good. People can make good money here in Nigeria. I know there are challenges, but if you are not a good manager, then you would look for areas where there are no challenges. Like now, you would say there is power in Switzerland, everything is there for you. No armed robbers. Nothing. But how much profit can you make in Switzer.