Mike Adenuga’s Impact On Nigeria’s Economy Unquantifiable —Economic Experts As He Clocks 70

Today, Saturday, April 29, 2023, Dr Mike Adenuga, businessman and investor, turns 70. Against this backdrop, some notable Nigerian experts expressed their views on the contributions of this exceptional entrepreneur to the nation’s economy. Dayo Ayeyemi, Chima Nwokoji and Tola Bademosi report.

Economic experts have said that Dr Mike Adenuga who turns 70 today has created a lot of value in the nation’s economy.

The chief executive officer of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf told Saturday Tribune that beyond telecoms, the Globacom chairman has impacted virtually other key sectors of the economy.

“Dr Mike Adenuga is one of the leading entrepreneurs whose investments have contributed immensely to the growth and profitability of the banking sector in Nigeria.

“The nexus between his investment in the telecoms sector and activities in the banking sector is a win-win situation.

“Specifically, his interest in banking started with being a major shareholder in the defunct Equatorial Trust Bank that was later taken over by Sterling Bank in a deal sealed on 11 August, 2011.

“His activities in the telecommunications sector has also impacted the banking sector positively. For instance, the issue of funding which, of course, comes from the banking sector, has tremendously boosted financial intermediation and helped the telecoms sector attain its enviable status today as the most prosperous sector in the economy.

“As one of the best performing sectors in the economy, the telecoms sector has contributed so much to the profitability in the banking sector and vice versa.”

While also lauding the contribution of Dr Adenuga to the economy,Mr Paul Alaje,an economist, said: “When you talk about Adenuga, he has done quite a lot. The name became very popular in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Before then, not many people knew what he had done but he came to revolutionize the telecommunications sector with his company, Globacom.

“Before Glo came into the picture , the two major companies that dominated the scene had made it impossible for Nigerians to have access to what is called per-second billing. Mike Adenuga indeed disrupted the industry with the coming of Globacom , he crashed the price of SIM cards and his company ensured that Nigerians today pay for only what they consume unlike the time when somebody used only one minute and two seconds but such person was charged for two minutes to the benefit of the GSM companies operating at the time (MTN and Econet Wireless). Nigerians who used phones during the era will remember that he made that possible and I think that a lot of people are hoping that he will also do business in the area of pay TV because a lot of Nigerians have been suffering in that area.

“The goal behind the introduction of the per second billing was to make telecom services more accessible to the everyday Nigerian. As a result of his actions, the price of SIM cards crashed as well as the cost of telephone calls.”

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Speaking on the impact of Dr Adenuga in other sectors, Alaje said, “You cannot limit what he has done just to telecoms alone, he has also done a lot in oil and gas. Many of us know his company, Conoil Producing Limited, which is the first indigenous company in Nigeria to strike crude oil in commercial quantity back in 1991. Today, Conoil operates six oil blocks in Nigeria with an estimated 300 branches nationwide and has provided job opportunities to several Nigerians. At this level, the company has brought that balance such that anytime there is fuel scarcity, it is among companies that the Federal Government relies on the supply, both onshore and offshore. There is no way you can say he has not paid his dues to the country. These are the things that are important that we need to talk about. It is not because he is influential but in terms of job creation, he is responsible for thousands of jobs in Nigeria today and when I say thousands of jobs not just for Nigerians but even foreigners have come to work in Nigeria. On foreign-direct earnings, there are some things he does that go outside our country that also enable Nigeria to earn foreign currencies. So, he is one of the valuable assets that the country has and I hope that he is able to do more for the country in the nearest future.”

While urging Adenuga to consider going into pay tv service, Alaje said, “Multichoice has continued to take Nigeria for a ride. If you subscribe for a cable TV and you are only available for one week, you would have to pay for one month. Most of the time, the South African company has said that it is practically impossible for them to make Nigeria pay-as-you-go, it is on that basis that I said Dr Mike Adenuga should consider venturing into that space. He solved a similar problem before in the telecoms industry when he introduced a model that most Nigerians embraced. That boosted Glo and put the company, which was new as at then, into immediate limelight. Most poor people started buying SIMs and recharge cards from Globacom. So, for me, I think it is important if he can put his team together to study that space, if it is a place where they think they can make required profit, I think it would be nice for him to play. And I am extending this invite to every other well meaning Nigerian.”

Speaking about Adenuga’s versatility, he noted that “Adenuga’s business didn’t just start from Glo. As a matter of fact, he was a jack of all trades. He was into general merchandise and construction. He had been playing in several sectors before Glo. He also had quality experience outside Nigeria. The truth is that many young people today want to start a business today and being their first business, they want it to grow fast. It really doesn’t work that way. You must fail forward. There are times when you do business and the business will appear as though it did not succeed but you know, your success lies in your ability not to relax on your previous failures. And I can tell you from personal research on Mike Adenuga and some of the businesses he has done before, he has consistently failed forward before he went back to his team and made researches about telecom and at that time when the sector was not even popular, he attempted and he said he was going to succeed at it.

“His success story is not without failures. For instance, in 2001, his company, Communications Investment Limited (CIL) failed to acquire the Mobile Communications (GSM) provisional Licenses auctioned by the Nigerian government in 2001. The alleged reason was its failure to raise the prerequisite sum for the acquisition. However, Mike Adenuga debunked this and categorically stated that the licence assigned to them was litigious and though the payments were met, the Nigerian government refused the conditions attached to the payment. But, despite losing $20 million mandatory deposit fee for the license during the first bid, he made another payment as 2002 in the quest for the Second National Operator (SNO) licence and was awarded the same. Many would have given up with just the initial setback.

”To succeed in business, especially in this our environment, you must be willing to fail and must be willing to fail forward. It is from multiples of failure that you can get into your success. Because the environment is not there, energy to support is not there, security is not there and when you see people that thrive from nowhere, it is because they have decided to be stubborn in order for their success to be a reality.”

For Mr Oluremi Oyedele, Managing Director of Fame Oyster and Co, the involvement of Dr Adenuga in Road Tax Credit to finance road infrastructure will impact the nation’s economy positively.

He said: “ Mike Adenuga is somebody that I will describe as a person with the Midas‘ touch. In early 2000 to 2005 when the Scottish government was trying to reform, what they did was to invite the top executives. They called it Scottish executives. That is what they called the name of the organisation. They invited Scottish reputable and corporate executives, people with experience and formed them into a formidable team to plan and execute their development.

“Now, Mike Adenuga, with his experience, I believe will impact road construction in Nigeria. From his experience of being successful in Globacom and other businesses, he is going to impact and perform well in the scheme.“

Speaking on the importance of the Ota-Idiroko road which Globacom is about to fix, he said: “They call that corridor ‘Gateway’ to Nigeria because it connects people that are trading from The Gambia to Senegal, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin. They pass through the corridor. That is why they call Ogun State the gateway to Nigeria. If we fix this road to international standard to last for a minimum of 25 years, then we are going to boost the trade between Nigeria and other West African counties. I support the road initiative. It is a critical infrastructure we need to look into.”