Mike Adenuga: A Monumental Gift to Humanity

The world will indisputably stand still tomorrow, April 29, 2024, as Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr, marks his 71st birthday. His golden birth over seven decades ago was to herald a monumental gift for humanity.

For a man who has a flourishing business empire with substantial investments in telecommunications, oil and gas and banking, it is not for fun that he is described as a visionary leader, an exemplary entrepreneur and an outstanding manager of men and resources.

Though he is not given to throwing elaborate parties on the occasion of his birthday, many, including his family members, will definitely share in his joy as they celebrate him to the high heavens. Who wouldn’t celebrate the serial businessman who many have described as one of the most beautiful gifts from Nigeria to the continent of Africa and a shining light in Africa’s business firmament?

His audacious ability and ever readiness to take any risk as seen in his foray into oil exploration and later, telecommunications, has sealed his business prowess and foresight. He always treads where other investors are afraid to try.

The ebullient Chairman of Globacom is a unique personality who focuses persistently on the big picture without blinking. His eyes are always on the ball.

It is on record how the man single-handedly revolutionised the telecommunication sector in Nigeria and changed the landscape even when not many believed he could.  

Before his foray into the industry, other companies that launched ahead of him claimed a per-second billing system was unachievable in seven years. With that, he rescued the country from the jaws of other competitors in the sector.

Fondly known as The Bull, he has always believed in the power of possibilities. And like the Bull that he is, nothing is strong enough to impede forward-looking moves. When he roared and boasted then that with Glo things were no longer going to be the same again, indeed, things never stayed the same. His doggedness has changed the scene for the better and since then it has been a rollercoaster of sorts for telecom subscribers in the country.

Long before he came into the telecom sector, he has proven that he is born to change, recreate and transfigure any field he finds himself in. Blessed with innovative ideas, in 1991, he launched Consolidated Oil Limited, which became the first indigenous oil company to strike oil in commercial quantities. It has since grown in leaps and bounds after he consolidated his investment in the oil sector with the purchase of National Oil (now Conoil Producing Limited).

Adenuga, who cherishes friendship a great deal, loves to put smiles on people’s faces with his philanthropy. He has positively impacted the lives of so many people within and outside Nigeria that he must have lost count of those he has lifted up. Indeed, he is worthy of every adulation as his towering status is even glimpsed beyond the Nigerian shores.