Otunba Mike Ishola Adeniyi Adenuga (Jr.)
By Fassy Adetokunboh Yusuf
Today (Monday, April 29, 2013), one of the legends of our time will
clock sixty years. Expectedly, the media, especially the print will be
agog with congratulatory messages to celebrate this unique Nigerian who
has made a success of his socio-economic endeavours. Otunba Mike Ishola
Adeniyi Adenuga (Jr.) has become a business colossus and the barometer
for benchmarking the country’s economic and philanthropic landscape, and
indeed, those of the West African sub-region.
A cerebral business mogul, Otunba Mike Adenuga entry into the economic
arena became noticeable in the 1980’s and in quick succession he founded
and nurtured Devcom Merchant Bank Limited, Equitorial Trust Bank
Limited and Conoil Limited to enviable heights. The advent of the
Global System for Mobile Communications (hitherto known as Groupe
Special Mobile), in Nigeria saw the enigmatic Mike Adenuga (Jr.)
floating what is up to the present, the only indigenous and private
telecommunications company, Globacom Limited to challenge the earlier
three entrants- Zain (now Airtel), MTN, and NITEL. Ever since, the
industry has never been the same as Globacom brought with it innovation,
patriotism, and zeal yet to be matched by any other telecommunications
company.
The auspicious event of Adenuga’s diamond birthday is a consequential
and monumental moment to celebrate success, resilience, excellence,
generosity and kindness, humility, optimism, patriotism, corporate
social responsibility, and many more as exemplified and personified by
this thoroughbred Ijebu.
How do we define or determine success? To paraphrase Bessie Stanley, to
achieve success is to live well, to gain the respect of those around
us, to fill our niche and accomplish our task, to leave the world better
than it was met, to look for the best in others and give them the best
one could, for one’s life to be an inspiration to others, and for one’s
memory to be a benediction. The cumulation of all these point to the
fact that Adenuga (Jr.) is a success story in every material sense.
A resilient entrepreneur, his achievement in life has been built on
concrete personal achievement and damning the challenges of failure. No
doubt, business has not been a bed of roses. He once made an attempt to
acquire the moribund and defunct NITEL, but for some inexplicable
reasons, this did not materialize. Re-strategizing, he launched
Globacom, which introduced what was then said to be impossibility, the
Per Second billing regime that has now become the vogue in the mobile
telecommunications community.
According to Rick Pitino, ‘excellence is the unlimited ability to
improve the quality of what you have to offer’, while Booker T.
Washington, said that ‘excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon
way; Adenuga (Jr.) is a man of rare and consummate excellence. He does
not belong to the wasted or wasting generation. Rather, he dazzles us
with his virtue and outstanding qualities, and above all, his commitment
to achieve the best for his race.
Talking about his generosity reminds this writer about the quotation
from Albert Pike that ‘what we have done for ourselves alone dies with
us; and what we have done for others and the world remains and is
immortal’. Equally true is that ‘those who bring sunshine to the lives
of others cannot keep it from themselves’. These two statements
exemplify the spirit of Adenuga (Jr.). He has done much for Nigeria and
Africa. He has also brought fame, honour and prestige to the black race.
A leader among men, he has always avoided putting himself above others.
To some he is elusive or evasive, but those who know him attest to his
uncommon humility and shyness. Humility, according to George Arliss ‘is
the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible
changes of life’. The transformation of Adenuga (Jr.) to one of the
richest men of our time can surely not have been achieved without a good
dose of humility.
It is no gainsaying that ‘no pessimist ever discovered the secrets of
the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the
human spirit (Helen Keller)’. The achievements of Adenuga (Jr.) have
been built on optimism- seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. His
life is telling us that we can conquer our nightmares because of our
dreams, and that there are possibilities in impossibilities. Indeed, it
is possible to operate from a higher level of consciousness if and when
we identify the opportunities in any good, bad and ugly environment. The
dream in us will die if we are pessimistic.
A patriot of no mean order, his business empire attests to his
commitment to and belief in the country. Directly and indirectly
employing over 500,000 workers, he is a major stakeholder in the
Nigerian project. The queuing into the philosophy of corporate social
responsibility has been a great uniqueness of Mike Adenuga (Jr.). Every
part of the country has benefitted from his tremendous spirit of giving
to charity, sports, culture, education and many more.
Recently, he was conferred with the second highest national honour, the
Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). He is the greatest
ambassador of Ijebuland in the socio-economic sphere and an
indefatigable Pillar of sports and youth development in Nigeria. Adenuga
(Jr.) is an indomitable employer of labour and the economic
generalissimo of our time.
On a personal level, when the Awujale of Ijebuland appointed this
writer the Coordinator of the centuries’ old Annual Ojude Oba of
Ijebuland some seven years ago, the involvement of his company, Globacom
has changed the face of the festival. The festival, through the
instrumentality of Adenuga (Jr.) has become a global event playing host
to millions of people annually including Presidents, Governors, National
and State legislators, diplomats and foreign tourists. He is
undoubtedly, the foremost benefactor of our Ijebu’s cultural heritage-
the Annual Ojude Oba Festival.
In conclusion, the diamond jubilee of the Otunba Apesin of Ijebuland,
Mike Adenuga (Jr.), is indeed, a unique opportunity to salute his
selfless and unwavering commitment to humanity and astonishing
accomplishments in life. May his Diamond Jubilee usher in more grace to
his glory as he continues to further manifest his destined greatness.
Happy Birthday to a quintessential and an amazing son of Ijebuland. May
his mega vision, octopus mission and unassailable journey of purposive
and selfless service to humanity continue to magnify.
Chief Fassy Adetokunboh Yusuf, the Baagbimo of Ijebuland,
lawyer, media scholar, management consultant, and former Ogun State
Commissioner for Information and Culture wrote in from
cfaoyusuflaw@yahoo.com.
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