A Bull That Makes, Not Breaks

Amaju Pinnick 

If you make your first million naira at the age of 26, selling lace materials and distributing soft drinks, it is unlikely that more than a few visioners would see you becoming, some decades later, one of your continent’s richest men, with vast interests in both streams of the oil sector, banking, telecommunications, entertainment and other areas, with tremendous impact in the lives of billions of people globally.

I have never been ashamed to confess that Michael Agbolade Adenuga Jnr. is one of my role models – a quintessential man of honour, philanthropist without compare, a man who radiates success and accomplishments of the highest grade, a man who sniffs opportunities even before they appear, and who is used to breaking new grounds and charting new frontiers. A man of class, charisma and character, yet simple and humane almost to a fault.

He is the only ‘Bull’ I know who makes people and does not break anyone. His DNA is to inspire people; I have never seen him shatter anyone.

Agbolade Adenuga Jnr is a firm believer in the Nigerian Project: one who has staked his all playing strongly, faithfully and adroitly in the Nigeria business space, breaking myths and uncovering new opportunities, where men of little faith and slim conviction only see walls and obstacles and hurdles.

That faith, plus audacity, perseverance and endless innovation, has seen him uproot odds and hindrances in almost every sector to prosper, and to be ranked today as one of the world’s most remarkable self-made men.

Born to Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Snr and Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Onashile on 29 April 1953, the junior Michael had his secondary education at Ibadan Grammar School – a citadel famous for its prowess on the football field, and which perhaps explains his love (as well as decades of support, encouragement and sponsorship) of the ‘beautiful game’. 

After working as a taxi driver to fund his university education, (with degrees from the Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York, the junior Michael decided to give full vent to the business streak he took from his mother’s genes. In 1990, he got his first oil drilling license, and the following year, his Consolidated Oil (ConOil) struck oil in commercial quantity in the shallow waters of Ondo State – the first indigenous company to do so.

The early noughties birthed a new vista in telecommunications. In 1999, Adenuga was issued a GSM license. It was revoked the following year. Undaunted, he took part in another auction in 2003 and was handed another licence that gave birth to Globacom – Nigeria’s biggest indigenous telecommunications firm and perhaps the biggest in the West African region, with large footprints in Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

It was not for nothing that he was named the African Entrepreneur of the Year at the very first edition of African Telecoms Awards in 2007.

His humanitarian nature is most underplayed. The people of Ondo, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom States will testify that his ConOil remains the most community-friendly oil exploration and distribution company around, with a string of genuine, people-interest development projects all over.

His companies have continued to support, sponsor and encourage football (nay, the sports industry in general) over the decades, with billions spent on the League and the National Teams. In the Continental, millions of people still refer to the African Football Awards as Glo-Caf Awards, due to his company’s many years of uninterrupted sponsorship and upliftment of the annual event, for which Adenuga himself got a soul-lifting CAF award. 

On a personal level, I am a testifier to his magnanimity and keen interest in the upliftment of other individuals and projects, and pursuits that advance the cause and reputation of the Nigeria nation. While campaigning to win a seat on the FIFA Council – a panel of only 37 people who constitute the highest decision-making organ in world football – and having to travel all over Africa by chartered aircraft due to the coronavirus pandemic, I received a call from Michael Agbolade Adenuga.

“Omere, how do I support you?” At that period, every support to the project was significant, and he contributed to helping me win the seat, making me the third Nigerian to make it to that hallowed panel.

With a sense of honour and privilege, I am pleased to wish this extremely successful man a happy and blessed Platinum Jubilee Anniversary. May you continue to break new grounds in divine health, sound mind and peace at heart.