72 Hearty Cheers to the Spirit of Africa, Dr Mike Adenuga
It is that time of the year that the great icon and business mogul, Dr Michael Adeniyi Ishola Adenuga celebrates his birthday. The astute businessman turns 72 years old on April 29, 2025.
For this great son of Africa, it has been a life of consistent hard work and successes upon strings of successes. He has seen and conquered, not by any stroke of luck but by dint of hard work blessed by God. After all, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8: “Paul planted, Apollo watered but God gave the increase”. For Dr Adenuga, his every efforts have been divinely blessed with the “increase”.
Right from childhood, his path had been marked for greatness and he never deviated from the trajectory of success that he set for himself. A Taurean, Dr Adenuga is obstinate! He is obstinate in the pursuit of excellence and success, two great denominator of great achievements. Despite being one of the wealthiest businessmen on the continent of Africa by far, he is averse to being in the public glare because he would rather stay focused on running his vast business enterprise both within Nigeria and in several choice locations across the world. The media is already ablaze with congratulations in celebration of his 72nd birthday, and honoring this exceptional business entrepreneur whose success has been built on extraordinary dedication stubborn tenacity and incredible foresight. He deserves it and even more.
Raised in Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr Adenuga went to Ibadan Grammar School. After that, he attended his post-secondary education in Oklahoma, USA. In the middle of the 1970s, he made a return to Nigeria to take advantage of the prosperous economic activity of the time. Like the famed man with the Midas Touch, he has succeeded in his many commercial ventures has grown into a titan of business and has become the standard by which the nation’s and, in fact, Africa’s, economic and charitable environments are measured.
Over the years, Dr Adenuga has mastered the art of shaping his businesses into significant, if not dominant, players. Conoil Plc is one of Nigeria’s biggest and most successful oil marketing firms in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria today. He had bought National Oil during government’s privatization programme and turned its fortune around. The conglomerate’s downstream division, Conoil Producing, made history in 1991 when it became the first Nigerian business to extract oil in commercial quantity.
Dr Adenuga’s midas touch was at play in that discovery. As the story has been told several times, he would have gone bankrupt if crude oil was not discovered at the time his company did. He had invested so much that he could not turn back and withdraw. But his persistence paid off with the discovery of the black gold.
It was this focused quality that saw to the establishment of Globacom, having failed to secure a license during the bidding rounds for GSM licenses in 2001. It was not for any other reason than commitment to principles that he couldn’t get the license as at then. But Adenuga got the license much later after the other operators already had a head start and were already milking Nigerians to the bones in the name of providing services.
Of course, he had no interest in the exploitation of Nigerians. To his eternal credit, Nigerians won a war without lifting a finger as Dr Adenuga ensured that Globacom began charging Nigerians on per second basis. He could have opted to be attracted by the quick returns to join those who were charging Nigerians to death. But patriotic fervor and an undying spirit to give the best to his people prevailed. The rest is history but Nigerians would never forget how Dr Adenuga fought on their behalf and won.
His focus on excellence is encapsulated in the words of the American Political Science scholar, Dr. William J. Gore, who said “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of a high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” For Dr Adenuga, excellence has remained a daily, or clearly more a life-long commitment, which has paid off for him in the results that have propelled him into the league of the richest men in the world today.
He is the greatest socio-economic ambassador of his native Ijebuland. Hos exemplary business and leadership acumen has not gone unnoticed both in Nigerian and beyond its shores. He is a proud recipient of the second-highest national honour in Nigeria, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
He also received the highest civilian award in France, the award of Commander of the Legion of Honour, becoming the first Nigerian to be so awarded for his contribution to the growth of the African and French economy. The Government of the Republic of Ghana in 2016 also honoured him with the highest national honour of The Companion of the Star of Ghana (CSG). Clearly, a man of excellence and distinction would always have such honours trailing him for his great contributions to the society.
In giving, Dr Adenuga has excelled also, doing the much that his Creator has endowed him to do to bring smiles to the faces of others, irrespective of their social or economic status. Those who know him attest to his undying passion for giving. He must derive joy in helping to make others joyful by putting smiles on their faces. It is for this reason that he is seen as a Spirit in human form, one that always moves to return joy to the faces of people who have once lost hope of smiling again. Dr Adenuga carries that sterling quality attributable to angels. God expects us all to do the much we can to do good to others. He won’t send angels to come down to carry out such assignment, He sends people who are willing to become tools of God’s goodness.
It is 72 hearty cheers to the Spirit of Africa, Dr Mike Adenuga.
