Adenuga: An Ode to a Corporate Bull at 70

Ademola Adedoyin 

Call it the golden era of Nigerian Journalism and you will be hitting the bull’s-eye. It was the early 1990s, in the aftermath of the journalism revolution wrought by the legendary and iconic journalist, the Late Dele Giwa and his team with the birth of Newswatch and other such newsmagazines that new era heralded.

This reporter had joined the team of the young, brilliant, thorough bred and highly motivated members of the Editorial Desk at The Sunday Magazine, TSM, under the leadership of two of the best in the industry- Chris Anyanwu and Ely Obasi of blessed memory. 

Assigned the Energy Desk which happened to be the forte of the Publisher, Chris Anyanwu, having covered the beat creditably at the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA News Desk, only the most credible, factual, balanced and well written stories from the reporter could pass the stringent requirements of the two highly professional bosses.

It was in this setting that the reporter, April 1992, came about the Exclusive Story of the late MKO Abiola’s Summit Oil having discovered crude oil in commercial quantities at its Oil Prospecting Lease, OPL 205, Oil block.

It was a big deal; a big story, but at the same time, a story that could create huge credibility problem, if it goes awry. And this for a strong reason. 

In the early 1990s, the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof Jibril Aminu, under a policy aimed at encouraging indigenous participation in the Upstream Sector of the Oil Industry as oil explorers and producers, handed out oil prospecting blocks to some indigenous corporate icons of the day. They included such big players as Dr Mike Adenuga Jr (Consolidated Oil) Chief MKO Abiola (Summit Oil) Saleh Jambo NorthEast Petroleum, Jerome Udoji (Solgas Nigeria Ltd), Sani Bello and High Chief Tunde Afolabi (Amni Petroleum, The Sijuwades (Alfred James Petroleum), The Itsuelis (Dubril Oil),  Arthur Eze (Atlas Petroleum), amongst others.

The policy was greeted with some strong dose of cynicism, with many industry operators insisting that indigenous players did not have the expertise, the required capital, the manpower etc to operate successfully in the sector. Many expressed the view that the beneficiaries would end up handing over the blocks to the real players known as technical partners for a fee and disappear into the thin air.

It was under this atmosphere of pervasive cynicism that the reporter came to the newsroom to announce to the bosses that Summit Oil had struck crude Oil, in its Otien Field in OPL 205. What made it more interesting was that the feat was attained with an all Nigerian team of professionals.

The two bosses sent the reporter back to his sources to demand for more documents and further proofs. More documents helped to confirm the earlier reports which indicated that, indeed, before this latest feat, another indigenous Oil Company, Mike Adenuga Jr’s Consolidated Oil had made commercial discoveries at its Bella 1 Well at its OPL 113 (now OML 103), a feat attained with an all Nigerian team of oil experts on the Christmas Eve of 1991.

That was the story that gave birth to the The TSM Exclusive Cover Story of April 1992 titled: Abiola Strikes Black Gold

That story not only exclusively accurately reported the Summit Oil Ltd’s oil find, it dissected the Professor Jibril Aminu’s Upstream Sector indigenous policy and also highlighted the fact that Mike Adenuga Jr’s Consolidated Oil was the first indigenous E & P Company to strike the precious black gold in commercial quantities at its Bella 1 Well.

It was a report that dominated discourse in oil industry circles the week it hit the newsstands and thereafter.

Apparently a man given to appreciating excellence and great efforts, the Guru, as he is fondly called by devotees and admirers alike, reached out to the young reporter to appreciate what he described as a brilliant and balanced report. The Chairman has his own unique way of appreciating such efforts in such a way that it will make a life long permanent, positive impressions on the beneficiary.

While that Exclusive Story signposted the beginning of a relationship between the reporter and the Corporate Titan, they were not to meet physically until 1993 when the Oil Mogul was invited to deliver a paper on the Challenges of Indigenous Oil Exploration and Production Companies by the National War College, Lagos, now known as the National Defence College, which has since relocated to Abuja. The Reporter was to bring a few of his colleagues on the Energy Beat to cover the event.

When the reporter went forward to introduce himself after the Guru had done justice to the topic of the day, his remarks were: “wow, you are so young and you write so well and so maturely..” 

To say that the  Guru is a unique human being is to state the obvious. To call him a Mystery, (note the Capital M) is to correctly situate his modus operandi. In the Guru’s Dictionary, the word failure is conspicuous by its absence. It is in his never-say-fail spirit that his bull’s moniker can be appreciated. If there’s the need for the Chairman to see you, all human factors would have to give way to make that possible. To achieve a corporate goal, all factors are adequately taken care of, thereby leaving no room for failure. It is the bull’s spirit; the Guru’s way.

The Guru’s business model does not envisage any obstacle as insurmountable, in fact, such challenges are considered as stepping stones to achieving corporate goals. Check out the challenges he faced to make a success of oil exploration and production, which he once described as the greatest cassino on earth and then the obstacles placed on his way by powerful forces before securing the telecom licences and the way he tackled competition when he arrived the telecoms market, then you will know that the Guru is not called  the Bull for fun.

The Guru’s uniqueness however goes beyond achieving corporate goals and recording one business conquest after another. His human relations template is amazing for its detailed approach. He keeps records of all his contacts and reaches out to them appropriately to the amazement of the beneficiaries. Every year, without fail, this reporter has received a well decorated Christmas Card from the Guru in the last two decades. You don’t need to see regularly for the Guru to remember you. And that is what stands him out as a unique creature, who, even though may not be readily accessible, remains true to his friends and humanity at large.

The Bull’s belief in remaining at the background while he records one feat after the other and one corporate conquest after another has definitely worked for him. 

With this uncommon and unique style, controversies, scandals, crises have all kept a safe distance from the Guru. 

With businesses that have grown so humongous as to place its never-say-die promoter as the second richest Nigerian, there is no doubting the fact that the Guru’s unique business and relationships templates have worked perfectly for this Corporate Icon who looks ready to continue to dominate the global business landscape in the decades to come.

As the Bull marks his three scores and ten on the terrestrial side, may The Most High grant him many more decades of more corporate conquests and accomplishments. 

-Adedoyin, marketing communications specialist, wrote in from Lagos.