July 9, 2006
From inception, it was designed to be a favoured son. Conceived by President Olusegun Obasanjo, midwifed by a select group of 32 key players in the economy to whom he handed it over, and still being spoonfed by the president, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc, simply called TransCorp, cannot but be a pampered child. Incorporated on 17 November 2004 and formally launched on 2 July 2005, it is already the proud owner of the five-star Nicon-Hilton Hotel, Abuja, which has been renamed TransCorp Hilton.
On take-off, the corporation was granted, among other concessions, approval to build a $250 million (about N33.25 billion) 400,000 barrels per day refinery in Lekki Free Port Zone, a licence to build an independent power plant, access to the federal government cassava report to facilitate its construction of a cassava processing export facility, and oil blocs to enable it participate actively in the upstream sector of the oil industry.
A wide advantage, indeed, TransCorp has. That privilege is, however, becoming an albatross. Last week, when the corporation added the ailing Nigeria Telecommunications Limited, NITEL, to its seemingly endless string of acquisitions, all hell broke loose. Tongues are beginning to wag on the manner of the creation of TransCorp and on the transparency, or lack of it, in its purchase of federal government’s assets from the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. To Pat Utomi, a political economist and presidential aspirant in the 2007 election, TransCorp was formed to cream off the little growth being recorded in the economy. "That is the problem with the TransCorp idea. A few individuals who have access to power are taking away all the gains personally, directly," Utomi fumed. Adedayo Ojo, TransCorp’s Vice President on Communications, however, retorted that the Lagos Business School don was only shouting sour grapes because he was not a member of the privileged founders’ class. "TransCorp was founded essentially as the Nigerian idea of a world-class company to match the multinationals, the big foreign companies, in the transaction of business in Nigeria and beyond.
It would only be fair to hold TransCorp up to the same business standards that apply to all other companies. It is some people who were not lucky to be part of the pioneer team that are crying foul. Would Utomi be complaining if he was part of the team?" Ojo wondered.
Maybe he would. Maybe not. Only President Obasanjo who invited the pioneer investors in TransCorp could explain why he left out a business technocrat and administrator like Utomi out of the team. In an interview with TheNEWS some months ago, the chairperson of TransCorp, Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who is also the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, admitted that TransCorp was Obasanjo’s brainchild. The idea is argued to be a practical manifestation of the articulated vision of the president and his economic team. The vision, in the main, aims to shift emphasis on management of the national economy from public to private sector initiative. In the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS, document, government maintains that the private sector would be the executor, investor and manager of businesses. To this end, TransCorp, especially is endorsed by government as a platform for captains of industry and finance to invest in and build an international conglomerate that could give Nigeria a competitive edge to participate globally.
Those invited to kick off TransCorp included Okereke-Onyiuke, Bernard Ojeifo Longe, former managing director of First Bank of Nigeria plc who was last week announced as the new managing director and chief executive officer of TransCorp; Nicholas Okoye, formerly Technical Adviser to Okereke-Onyiuke at NSE, but now Group Executive Director of TransCorp; Festus Odimegwu, MD/CEO of Nigerian Breweries plc, who is now on leave; Jim Ovia, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank plc; Tony Elumelu, MD/CEO of UBA plc; Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe, MD/CEO of First Bank of Nigeria plc; Aliko Dangote, billionaire president and CEO of the Dangote Group of Companies; Otunba Funsho Lawal, CEO of Charterhouse Group, a Lagos-based consulting and financial advisory services group; Femi Otedola, president and CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited; Tony Ezenna, CEO of Orange Drugs and Adegboyega Olulade, an investment banker and stockbroker. Alhaji Waziri Mohammed, former chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, who died in the Bellview plane crash last December, was also a member of the team. TransCorp has its sight set on six revenue centres, namely: oil and gas, agriculture and agro-allied business, information technology, power, international trade and free trade zone. A subsidiary, Transnational Oil and Gas, is already investing in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. Apart from the approval granted the subsidiary to build a refinery, it has also been awarded oil blocs and is participating in bid for the New Port Harcourt Refinery Limited, a two-plant, 210,000 barrels a day facility with huge potentials for expansion.
Transnational Technology will roll out solutions for industrial applications in inventory controls, shipping, production and supply chain management. It will also engage in commercial research and development facility for Nigeria and Africa. Another arm, Transnational Power, plans to build an independent power plant to supply residential and commercial users in Nigeria, Ghana, Equitorial Guinea, Senegal, Sao Tome, Gambia, Burkina Faso, etc. A licence to build an IPP has been approved.
Transnational Industrial Park/Export Free Zone has been slated for Lekki Free Port area of Lagos State. Most of its businesses will be located in its industrial park. All business units that have production units, such as refining, raw material processing, agro-allied business and the ICT centre will be located there.
TransCorp, which President Obasanjo argued was formed as "Nigeria’s emulation of a step already taken by latest successful industrial countries like China, South Korea and India," is attracting both flak and encomium from Nigerians. Whereas some agreed that there is truly need for a big Nigerian player like TransCorp to compete effectively in the sophisticated global economy, others frowned at the composition of the TransCorp membership and are raising questions on the source of the huge funds being used to acquire the company’s assets. The corporation, it is observed, is populated by those described as acolytes of the president, most of who supported his unsuccessful bid for a third term. Odimegwu, the Nigerian Breweries CEO, never hid the fact that members of Corporate Nigeria, a group of influential business men and women, who always applaud Obasanjo’s reform policies, were solidly in support of the third term agenda. These people are believed to be the financial backers of the agenda, although none of them owned up to it. What they could not deny, however, was their huge contributions to the president’s re-election in 2003 and his Presidential Library project launched in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on 14 May 2005. Donors to the library project, which is gulping N7 billion, included Mike Adenuga, the oil and telecommunications mogul, who put down N250 million; Aliko Dangote, N211 million; Femi Otedola, N200 million; a consortium of banks whose names were not mentioned, N622 million and the Nigeria Ports Authority, $1 million.
Just as queries were raised on the source of such huge donations to the library project, eyebrows are being raised on the source of the huge funds the directors are expending on TransCorp’s purchases. The company commenced operations with an initial share capital of N56 billion and hopes to raise an additional N66 billion from the capital market through its Initial Public Offer due for the third quarter of 2006. The corporation acquired Nicon-Hilton in October 2005 for $105 million. It is expected to have, by 10 July 2006, paid $500 million of the $750 million it is paying for the 75 per cent stake it is taking over in NITEL. There is the insinuation that some directors may be dipping their hands into shareholders’ funds of the companies they head to feather TransCorp’s nest. Ojo, the corporation’s communication VP, however, dispelled such fears. "Such practice is most unethical and TransCorp would not be involved in such a thing," he told TheNEWS.
Last week, when this magazine made efforts to speak with Okereke-Onyiuke, Okoye or Longe, the new MD/CEO, they were said to be engaged in meetings, trips and consultations on meeting the target date for the NITEL final payment. "All of them are busy running about. So you can see they are not just sitting idle expecting manna from somewhere," Ojo said. "And why are the critics not talking about the fact that TransCorp secured a credit line of one billion euros from the European Economic Union, EEU," he asked. Okereke-Onyiuke had disclosed the fact about the credit facility and the intention to pump the sum of $1 billion into reviving NITEL.
Okereke-Onyiuke’s dual role in both TransCorp, which has been listed on the exchange, and the NSE where she is the director-general, is also being questioned. Some critics wonder how she would not suffer from conflict of interest in the issue of TransCorp’s stock. So far, figures on TransCorp’s transactions have only been what emanated from its top officials alone and have not been subjected to public scrutiny. Late in 2005, TransCorp set out to raise N6 billion from private placement. The offer was over-subscribed raking in N17 billion. The names of contributors of the placement and how much each contributed are, however, shrouded in secrecy. But Ojo did not see anything untoward in this. Again, he pleaded that TransCorp should be accorded the same business standards that all other companies are subjected to. "How many banks, during the consolidation exercise in their industry, disclosed the names and financial details publicly of their investors, especially on private placement? How many companies make figures and names in their private placements public?" he asked. He assured that whenever it is necessary to make any information about TransCorp’s transactions public, its officials would not tarry for one second in doing so.
Ojo was furious about the report that the shares of TransCorp would sell for N10 each when it eventually goes on offer. No such price has been fixed, according to Ojo, who was miffed with what he called unfounded reports and write-ups on TransCorp’s activities. Okereke-Onyiuke, he posited, can be trusted in matters involving TransCorp at the NSE. The NSE boss is legally allowed to hold her post at the NSE while she shares the board of a quoted firm, Ojo said, as he explained that the World Federation of Stock Exchanges, a long time ago, gave stock exchange bosses the go-ahead to man such dual offices. The TransCorp spokesman wondered, for instance, why nobody has been criticising Raymond Obieri, chairman of the NSE, for also simultaneously chairing many boards of quoted companies. Question of ethics is also being raised on President Obasanjo’s possible link with TransCorp. The president has been accused of favouritism in the many concessions he granted TransCorp. Such undue advantage, as some critics view it, is not unlikely to breed lack of transparency and all sorts of shady deals. The president has never hidden his deep affection for the TransCorp initiative, which he created anyway. "We are not saying that this corporation will solve all of our economic problems and put Nigeria squarely on the path to economic prosperity. But it is a very good start and if well-operated or managed, it is bound to serve as a strong anchor for our economic progress," he stated. Obasanjo declared his readiness to purchase shares of the firm, through his Obasanjo Farms Limited, when it goes on offer. Okereke-Onyiuke herself admitted Obasanjo’s interest in TransCorp: "It is not government-owned, although government is nurturing it."
Many Nigerians remain unconvinced about the defence of TransCorp’s officials on Obasanjo’s position towards the corporation and its dependence on the presidency. One incident last week, the sack of Fola Adeola, pioneer MD/CEO of TransCorp, brightly illuminated the arguments of antagonists of Obasanjo’s close link with TransCorp. The announcement of the dismissal of Adeola as TransCorp’s boss came after the corporation’s board visited Obasanjo in Aso Rock. The former MD/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc was also removed as chairman of the Pension Commission, PENCOM. Analysts have been linking the visit of the TransCorp board with the sack timing. Obasanjo is believed to have directed the board to remove Adeola for certain reasons.
One is the speculation that the former banker was humiliated for his uncooperative stance on the president’s third term ambition. In many media interviews then, Adeola made it clear that he was opposed to any sit-tight disposition. This declaration was said to have irked Obasanjo who personally installed Adeola, then a trusted boy, as boss of both PENCOM and TransCorp. Longe was understood to have been preferred by the TransCorp board, but the president overruled them. Another factor is Adeola’s touted senatorial ambition. He is believed to be interested in the Ogun Central senatorial district seat, where incidentally, Iyabo, the president’s daughter and Commissioner for Health in the state, has been feverishly campaigning for the same seat. Adeola’s two plum jobs were said by some political sources in Ogun State to have been sacrificed for Iyabo’s own political cause.
The NITEL deal has further thrown up TransCorp into public focus. NITEL is the dominant fixed line operator in Nigeria, with approximately 77 percent of the market and operations in all 36 states of Nigeria. M-tel, its subsidiary, is the number four mobile telephony operator, with approximately one million subscribers by the end of 2005. NITEL has the most extensive network in Nigeria, with the ability to provide telecom services to its customers throughout the country. In addition, it has a 7.33 percent share in the South Atlantic Telecommunication/ West African Submarine Cable Organisation, SAT3/WASC. It also has a 6.91 percent share in the Regional African Satellite Organisation (RASCOM); a 21 percent share in the International Maritime Satellite Organisation, INMARSAT, and 0.07 percent shares in ICO Global Communications Ltd., I-CO.
TransCorp vowed it would turn NITEL into a more effective and efficient provider in the wireless, broadband, video, voice and data markets. To do this, it is partnering with British Telecoms, BT, with which it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to utilise its services in the management and operations of NITEL during the turnaround. TransCorp said it chose BT due to the fact that BT not only has the experience of managing the type of telecom infrastructure that TransCorp envisages for NITEL, it also has the unique experience of having, in 1984, undergone a successful privatisation process similar to the NITEL privatisation, in which BT was sold as an integrated company and has grown meteorically.
Similar to TransCorp’s aspirations for NITEL, BT has been transformed from the pre-privatization telecommunications company into a fully integrated IT company in the telecommunications sector. Prior to its privatisation, BT was languishing, laden with a huge debt burden of more than £30 billion, but has now been fully transformed. TransCorp believes that working with BT provides it the best opportunity for engineering the transformation of NITEL to regain its (NITEL’s) position as Africa’s flagship telecommunications provider. BT is playing a similar role (as a technical partner) for the Saudi Lebanese Company, Oger Telecom, winner of the recently concluded privatisation of Turk Telekom by the Turkish Government. The last competitive bidding for a 51 percent stake in NITEL was in December 2005 in which Orascom International of Egypt emerged as the highest bidder with a bid of $256 million. The offer was rejected by the federal government for being ridiculously low. But just as the BPE is still busy patting itself on the back for a job well done, questions are being raised on the propriety or otherwise of choosing TransCorp as core investor in the NITEL. For one, the ‘negotiated sale’ approach is being faulted as lacking all elements of transparency of the open bidding method which the Bureau had adopted for its other transactions. Again, the curious increase in the equity on offer to the investor from the advertised percentage of 51 to 75 for reasons not yet explained by the BPE is attracting attention.
Since TransCorp entered the race to acquire NITEL, there had been speculations that it was being favoured by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. Irene Chigbue, BPE Director-General, confirmed during her visit to a newspaper house in Abuja that TransCorp would be given the right of first refusal.
Denying that TransCorp was favoured because of its closeness to the presidency, she said "we have looked at them all (the bidders). The Transnational Corporation was the most vibrant in terms of consistent interest, in terms of appetite, in terms of preliminary evidence of resources to fund and revamp NITEL... There was the emotional attachment to NITEL as our collective asset. So, let a company with a fairly broad representation acquire NITEL." The disclosure of the BPE helmsman coincided with the visit to Obasanjo by the directors of TransCorp led by Okereke-Onyiuke.
Already, human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, has said the deal was in contravention of the constitution which he said prohibits concentration of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few individuals. The legal luminary has expressed his intention of challenging the sale in court. The Advanced Congress of Democrats, ACD, has also challenged the sale of NITEL to TransCorp, describing it as irresponsible. The fact that the people who own the corporation are friends of the president, whom he constantly patronises by influencing their appointment to high-flying offices and awarding them oil blocs, is one reason many are displeased.
Many also frown at the ethnic imbalance of the TransCorp board handpicked by the president and its domination by his known friends. For example, some big corporate players were left out by the president. One of them, observers say, is insurance baron, Remi Olowude, vice chairman of Industrial and General Insurance, IGI. It is suspected that the president will continue to favour the company in similar transactions.
Writing on the sale, Reuben Abati, Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian, said: "No, I am opposed to TransCorp. TransCorp is a bird of passage. It is just collection of Obasanjo boys and girls trying to capture the Nigerian economy. When a future government comes to power, you cannot rule out the fact that it will seek to meddle with TransCorp or whittle down its influence or scrap it altogether. You mark my words, TransCorp is too much of a national character kind of vehicle. It is too diffuse. It has too many big men all jostling for space. Besides, it has no experience in telecom, no technical capacity. There are also moral issues. Its Chairman, Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke is the Director-General of the Stock Exchange. She can be accused of a conflict of interest moreso now that TransCorp is going to the stock market to look for money.’’
Yet there are still many corporations to be sold, including the Nigeria Postal Service, and the country’s ailing refineries. Ezekiel Fatoye, Executive Director, Multilinks and former Executive Director at NITEL, also noted that "$750 million for 51 percent is reasonable but the $750 million paid for 75 percent is strange." The question is even more relevant vis-à-vis the price for NITEL when it’s realised that all government corporations have been instructed to pay their debts to the telecom company. So, the NITEL which TransCorp bought is one devoid of encumbrances of debts. Was there a deliberate ploy to ensure the emergence of TransCorp as a core investor in NITEL based on the mega corporation’s connection with Obasanjo? That’s the question many analysts in the Nigerian socio-political circle were pondering over last week. Utomi queried the rationale as well as the business model being adopted by the company. "Look at the TransCorp companies. What is the relationship between the companies they bought and how does this relate to the national policy? Does something say to us that there is something that will lead to long-term growth of these enterprises? You are in refining, you are in hotel business, you are in manufacturing, you are in agriculture, anything goes…" said Utomi.
But to Okoye, the TransCorp ED, critics like Utomi are only being myopic and unpatriotic. "TransCorp is about the Nigerian dream. It is about putting Nigeria on the map of giant economies of the world." The TransCorp ED insists it is part of the answer to the nation’s economic crisis. "With TransCorp, things would be done according to world class standards. No more sub-standard products. With TransCorp, Nigeria would exploit its comparative advantages, especially going by the attendant economy of scales that would come with it," he stated. He said Nigeria has been lagging behind because of the absence of mega indigenous companies with the necessary expertise and skill to compete globally "and that is why Nigerian companies did not get any thing from its efforts in Sudan, Liberia and so on."
He believed Nigeria would have reaped the benefits of its efforts in these countries the way United States of America did in Iraq and any other nation it sends troops for liberation or peace keeping. Nigeria, he warned, might not gain anything from Liberia’s rebuilding process. "Liberia would soon embark on massive reconstruction. Where are the Nigerian companies featured here despite the nation’s great efforts towards ensuring peace and stability in that country? We have lost colossal amount of human and financial resources in trying to keep peace in countries like Liberia and other African nations. But there are no rewards for us. United States ensures that American companies benefit from its exploration anywhere in the world. But Nigeria does not because we don’t have the companies that can handle such international projects," he explained.
NITEL workers who spoke with TheNEWS would rather not bother who the new core investor is. Jeje Odeajo, General Secretary, National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees, NUPTE, told this magazine on telephone last week that the most important thing now is to ensure that the staff to be disengaged from NITEL get their pensions. Peace Obiajulu, President of both the Trade Union Congress and Senior Staff Association at NITEL, was glad that the telecom company was eventually sold to a Nigerian firm: "I see a future for NITEL in the hands of TransCorp. The workers themselves are happy that they would have a breathing space to do what they know how to do better."
Okereke-Onyiuke is urging all Nigerians to buy the TransCorp shares when it comes on offer, in line with Obasanjo’s desire to make it a truly public corporation. But how much of its shares would be thrown open to the public in all sincerity considering the fact that its pioneer directors have invested heavily in its financial transactions so far and would wish to recoup their investments in the shortest possible time? Questions, questions, questions. To dispel the spreading apprehension on the corporation, its directors would have to start laying the cards on the table sooner than they think. – Additional reports by Oluokun Ayorinde, Michael Mukwuzi, Tony Orilade and
Desmond Utomwen.
TransCorp Must Work With NITEL Unions Peace Obiajulu, President, Trade Union Congress and member, Senior Staff Association of NITEL, spoke to TheNEWS on the sale of the company to TransCorp. She spoke to Oluokun Ayorinde.
Q: What’s your reaction to the sale of NITEL to Transcorp?
IBB 'Bury Your Dream'-TheNEWS/Saharareporters
Last View on Thu 8th January, 2009
Last Modified on Tue 27th June, 2006 5:46:40 am
BABAJIDE KOLADE- OTITOJU & Francis Ottah Agbo
President Olusegun Obasanjo rejects the candidacy of ex-military president, Ibrahim Babangida for 2007 and tells him to his face Meetings between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida in Aso Rock is common. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Unlike many retired servicemen, Babangida, until recently, was very much at home with the Nigerian leader and once boasted that if he had an advice to give he walks into the seat of power to give Obasanjo. The point Babangida was making on a particular day when he met with journalists was that rather than criticise Obasanjo on the pages of newspapers he tells him he is wrong in private.
But Obasanjo’s preoccupation with remaining in office beyond 2007 appeared to have hurt the chummy relationship that existed between both retired Generals. Obasanjo’s life presidency ambition alerted Babangida to the need to stop him. He then teamed up with others, including retired Generals and Vice President Atiku Abubakar to frustrate Obasanjo. He regularly condemned the third term project on the pages of local newspapers and foreign radio stations.
So by the time Babangida met his former boss behind closed doors at the
Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Wednesday 14 June, it was clear that the basis for disagreement already existed between the two ambitious ex-servicemen.
Indeed, both President Obasanjo and former military president, Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida (IBB) was meeting formally for the first time since the president signed the Electoral Bill 2006 into law. Babangida had expressed a desire to plunge head-on into the presidential race once the Electoral Bill was signed into law, during a meeting with journalists in his Minna hilltop mansion three months ago and Obasanjo was aware of this. Top on the get-together’s agenda was IBB’s presidential ambition.
Obasanjo was said to have surprised his guest when he advised him to jettison his presidential ambition and join forces with him to shop for a younger candidate, preferably from the South South geo-political zone. He told him that it would be safe for IBB not to contest. He said that if he (Obasanjo) had known that his own popularity rating would be so bad the way it has turned out he would not have been persuaded to run.
Besides, he warned Babangida that he is not wanted by the international community. ‘‘You know that you can not travel to the US today,’’ he was quoted to have said.
Though the president was careful not to disclose his choice in the course of their discussion, a source in the villa told this magazine that he had zeroed in on Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State.
The president’s choice, our source reasoned, was predicated on the belief that only a president of South South extraction can assuage the restive youths from that geo-politicalzone who are engaged in embarrassing hostage taking.
Besides, the president believes only a less controversial and loyal governor like Duke can sustain the reforms instituted by his government.
“Baba told IBB that there was no vacancy for him in PDP, as the party hierarchy had fashioned its succession plan after the American political system where governors are usually positioned to succeed outgoing presidents,” a top source in the presidency told TheNEWS.
Obasanjo’s undisguised antipathy to the Minna-born General’s presidential ambition allegedly irritated him, as he threatened to defect to another political party. Sensing the impairment IBB’s defection may cause the PDP, Obasanjo reportedly pleaded with him not to dump “our party,” promising that IBB will be given the nod to nominate the running mate to the PDP flag bearer in the 2007 presidential election. But IBB was not impressed with that option. And at that point the meeting ended, with both men not forgetting to shake hands. But stepping out of the meeting, it was clear that IBB was not in a good frame of mind. He was in no mood to talk to aides, neither was he smiling.
In no time, what transpired in the meeting became known to members of
IBB’s political jobbers, throwing them into confusion. But the self-styled evil genius is not giving up just yet. Even if he knows he has a hill to climb in realising his ambition to rule Nigeria once again, he still fancies his chances. Last month, IBB reportedly influenced the registration of a new party – Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) – using the duo of Governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State and former factional leader of All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, and General Jeremiah Useni as links men. Consequently, both Bafawara and Useni dumped the ANPP which they helped to found.
IBB is expected to launch his ambition on the platform of the party, especially if he is unable to clinch the PDP ticket. The IBB group had long planned to melt into the newly registered DPP, having realised that the ANPP is in the firm grip of Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State.‘‘We want IBB to be the next president. And we wanted him to run on the ticket of ANPP. But we moved in droves to DPP because Modu Sheriff and the Zamfara governor had a strong influence over the party,” one of
Bafarawa’s aides said. For now, the strategy is working like a charm.
Prominent politicians of Igbo stock who had hitherto pooh-poohed IBB have been wooed into the fold. Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, former Senate President, is one of them. Anyim, who was reportedly nursing presidential ambition, not only dropped it but agreed to galvanize support for the gap-toothed General in the South East. It was, therefore, not surprising to observers that the DPP named Anyim Chairman of its Mobilisation Committee. Even Chief Joe Nwodo, one- time presidential aspirant and elder brother of former Governor Okwesilieze Nwodo of Enugu State is said to be in the IBB column.
DPP is not the only party championing the IBB cause. In fact, the
National Democratic Party (NDP) had two years ago, pronounced IBB its consensus presidential candidate for the 2007 elections. The party’s position was made public by its National Chairman, Alhaji Habu Fari.
“General Ibrahim Babangida remains the consensus presidential candidate for 2007 because of all the politicians gallivanting the Nigerian political scene, only IBB can convincingly win election in the six
geo-political zones,” Fari argued.
Besides, over 20 associations which had hitherto gone underground as a result of the third term infamy have fused into one umbrella body called The Nigeria Project 2007. The group meets regularly to fine-tune strategies to actualise IBB’s presidential ambition. Already, the body has opened Project 2007 offices in the 36 state capitals.
Dr. Godwin Daboh, National Chairman of Concerned Nigerians For IBB, one of the 20 organisations founded to drum up support for IBB, said all was set for the formal declaration of the ex-martial ruler. While stressing that only God can stop IBB from standing election in 2007, the
Deputy National Auditor of PDP said IBB has been consulting with Nigerians for the past one year and had been waiting for the election with great pride.
‘‘There are over 20 groupings that constitute Project 2007. We have enough funds for the first phase of the campaign already. We have campaign offices in the 36 states of the country. Once the PDP releases its guideline for the election, IBB will formally launch his campaign in one of the North Central states,” he boasted.
He also hinted that contrary to media reports that Obasanjo has dumped
IBB, the former will back the latter. Interestingly, Babangida believes he can capture the presidency without the support of the presidency.
His strength, his supporters claim, lies on the thighs of the electorate.
To this end, the Armoured General has continued to spread his tentacles to all nooks and crannies of the country, attending major occasions, making new friends and consolidating his links with opinion moulders.
Governor George Akume of Benue State is one person IBB is desperate to woo into his campaign train. The permutation is that with Akume on his side, Vice President Atiku Abubakar will become weaker, since Akume is known to be very loyal to the Nigerian number two man, who is another strong contender for the presidency come 2007. IBB also thinks with Akume on his side he can win Benue State easily.
So when the governor last month invited the former military ruler to his nephew’s wedding in Makurdi, IBB turned it to a political rally of sorts. Accompanied by Governors of Sokoto State (Attahiru Bafarawa);
Niger State (Abdulkadir Kure), some National Assembly members spread across party lines and other categories of politicians, the toothy General held IBB Square, venue of the reception spell-bound. His posters with inscriptions: “2007; Sai IBB” and ‘‘IBB: No Shaking’’ were all over the place. At the end of the occasion, the import of the wedding was not lost on political watchers. “What you have seen today is a political wedding. The way IBB was received clearly shows that Benue people love him and in 2007, he will capture Benue,” Matthew Odu, socio-political commentator said.
Before the ‘‘Makurdi jamboree” IBB who had left power 13 years ago had used the wedding of his children to test his popularity. In September
2003, the wedding of his daughter, Aisha to Bashir Lado Garba, a nephew of the late General Abacha in Minna, Niger State capital was a roll call of who is who in Nigeria. The General and his foot soldiers no doubt, used it to re-align forces and prove that IBB can still pull a large crowd.
The ceremony saw the deceased first lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, representing her husband, President Obasanjo who was on leave in his Ota farm.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his wife, Titi and former military heads of State, General Yakubu Gowon and General Abdulsalami Abubakar also graced the occasion. Others at the ceremony were 31 state governors,
62 senators and 69 members of the House of Representatives, over 50 retired military top brass, ministers, over 200 former federal lawmakers, clerics and ministers and civil society groups.
However, conspicuously absent in Minna were former military ruler,
Muhammadu Buhari, former president Shehu Shagari and his deputy, Alex
Ekwueme. But the question is whether or not a wedding bash can translate to electoral victory. Dr. Adebayo Fatade, a social worker and sociologist explained the political undertone of the wedding. “I think to appreciate the political significance of the wedding of General Babangida’s daughter, it is better to situate the issues in perspective. Babangida is a former military president and by far a very influential political figure in Nigeria today. He also has the resources to deploy to any political fight,’’ he analyzed.
While describing Babangida as smart, the sociologist opined that given the large number of politicians at the wedding, the ex-military ruler cannot be underrated.
Fatade may be right. In 1992, the acclaimed winner of the June 12 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola organized what was then regarded as the biggest wedding in the history of Nigeria for his son, Kola. The bride, a daughter of another equally influential Nigerian, the late Chief Ossom from Kwale, in Delta State, also provided an opportunity for Abiola to test the political waters. Segun Adeniyi of ThisDay in his column on Thursday, September 11, 2003 argued that the huge turnout at the IBB Hilltop mansion may not translate to electoral victory for the “Prince of the Niger” if he decides to run for the presidency.
“Those who would, however, try to ascribe political significance to the attendance may have to take some lessons from the experience of second
Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme who celebrated his 70th birthday early this year (2003). The attendance was so head-swelling that the man and his handlers thought it was enough to win the presidency, only to learn in a hard way a few weeks later that it meant nothing.” Adeniyi was referring to the defeat of Ekwueme at the PDP Presidential primaries in Abuja by Obasanjo.
Beyond floating a new political party and attending social functions,
Babangida is also reaching out to former African leaders and world leaders like American president, George W. Bush and his British counterpart, Prime Minister Tony Blair for support. Immediate past president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, in an interview with a Nigerian daily stunned many when he canvassed support for Babangida.
Chief Alex Akinyele, former minister of Information in the IBB regime and promoter of his campaign in an interview with Newswatch said “it is these military guys that have local and international contacts. For instance, IBB calls any world leader one-on-one from his Hilltop house, Minna.”
Besides, the desperation to return to the vortex of power has pushed
Babangida into a chummy romance with native doctors. Godwin Daboh, another spin doctor of the IBB project told TheNEWS that spiritualists recently assembled in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State to “work on how to return IBB to power.”
The Juju men who were reportedly drawn from 26 states of the federation are believed to be coordinated by a famous Ibadan-based businessman. In spite of his body language and the declaration of intent early this year in Minna, many Nigerians still contend that IBB may not throw his hat into the ring. Those who hold this view say the odds are stacked against him.
Indeed, some of those who work in the Project 2007 are not sure of his plans and are as confused as other people. They say he has been acting like a reluctant aspirant and that contrary to media reports, he has not got solid structures in place to actualise his ambition. For example, unlike Vice President Atiku Abubakar who has already named a
Director-General for his campaign organisation in Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, former minister of Environment, the Babangida campaign remains uncoordinated and poorly funded despite the many billionaires purportedly promoting his vaunting ambition.
Professor Itse Sagay, SAN in a statement said Babangida is a yesterday’s man whose ideas are incongruous with the current political reality.
He advised Babangida to live a quiet life and enjoy his loot in Minna.
“I marvel at the cheek of a man like that who wants to come back. It is like fingering the nation in the eyes. He should go and bury his head in shame and allow the country to rest. He should forget about it not only in 2007 but for life. He should rather go for his retirement and be quietly begging God for forgiveness for the numerous atrocities he committed against mankind,” Sagay intoned.
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has been Babangida’s nemesis for many years. He chronicled the many sins of the Armoured General thus: ‘‘Babangida has no moral right, no political right to say he wants to rule Nigeria again. We will not forget his atrocities. Questions will be asked about how Dele Giwa was killed, how he mismanaged our economy and how they killed MKO Abiola.”
Reverend Chris Okotie, pastor of Household of God Church and presidential aspirant of Fresh Democratic Party calls on Nigerians to revolt against Babangida and his co-travellers, noting that Babangida will not contest.
Malam Shehu Sani, President of the Civil Right Congress (CRC) and one time coordinator of Campaign for Democracy (CD) wants Babangida and other ex-military leaders banned from participating in politics. He argued that democracy cannot flourish when it is manned by ex-martial rulers.
“Our democracy cannot be democratic until and unless we have civilians with a civilian mentality to man the affairs of Nigeria. That is why we must be wary of military men coming to power. We must stop IBB and others like him. Obasanjo has protected them because he is part of them. He has over the years demonstrated that he came from that class. He (Obasanjo) has done everything to shield them from prosecution,” Sani reasoned.
Though Professor Tam David-West, former Minister of Petroleum believes
IBB is qualified to run, he, however, predicted that he will meet his waterloo at the election. His words: “Nobody should vote for Babangida.
He has nothing to offer. I worked with him. I have said that in many articles. He has a right to contest as a citizen but if he joins the fray, he won’t win, because Babangida is electoral deficit.”
Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka described IBB’s ambition as an insult on Nigerians. He called on Nigerians not to fall prey to the antics of the military. “Let us not dance to the musical chairs being played by the military. Enough is enough. We are being insulted left, right and centre. People shoot their way to power, accumulate mass and mass of wealth and then use all the resources they have accumulated through illegal means to come and dominate our lives. What is it?” queried
Soyinka.
Olatunji Dare, celebrated columnist and university teacher warned that no Nigerian should take Babangida’s presidential ambition seriously until he offers explanation on his role in the criminal annulment of June 12 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by businessman, Chief MKO Abiola.
Writing in the Tuesday 13 June edition of The Comet, Dare listed many obstacles on the path of the former dictator. “Not so fast general. You have a lot to explain. I raise here only two issues that have been crying out insistently for an explanation: ‘June 12,’ and the Dele Giwa Murder. Babangida has never deigned to explain why he annulled the 1993 presidential election.”
And for good measure, he argued that Babangida annulled the election purely for selfish reasons. According to him, the former military president, “for reasons of personalambition, lust for power and failure of leadership, annulled the election. He turned the dawn that promised a bright new day into darkness and rejoicing into mourning. This brought to an abrupt end, his 8-year transition that had gulped a major chunk of the country’s resources,’’ Dare lamented.
Though the former military dictator had tried to exculpate himself by setting up a panel of distinguished Nigerians to look into the murder, the fact that the panel was never inaugurated remains a failure on his part. Now, he is desperate to return to an office he abdicated in a hurry 13 years ago. But for Dare, “he cannot afford to enter the presidential race as an un-indicted suspect in one of the most sensational murder cases in Nigeria’s history.”
Even the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has threatened to stop IBB. Already, it is planning to organize a nationwide fasting exercise to be observed by all devout Christians. In a chat with newsmen, CAN
President, His Lordship, Jasper Akinola said it had become imperative to stop Babangida because, according to him, if voted into office, his government will be anti-Christian. While wondering why a man whose government squandered over 12 billion dollars in oil windfall, and plunged the country into crisis occasioned by his criminal annulment of June 12 presidential election will plot a comeback to power, Akinola reminded
Christians that it was Babangida that attempted to Islamize Nigeria in the
1980s. “Babangida tried to no avail to smuggle Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) without considering the multi-religious and complex nature of the country, without subjecting such a sinister intention to a referendum. Any attempt to make Babangida a ruler is an invitation to chaos,” warned Akinola.
CAN also blame Babangida squarely for the politicization of religion.
The religious body believes that if Babangida had allowed the June 12 election won by a Muslim/ Muslim ticket, it would have provided a “reference point” for resolving the controversy religion continues to generate in the polity.
If CAN goes spiritual to put spanner in IBB’s political wheel then the presidency has a joker in the instrumentality of the law. A senior aide of the Nigerian president told TheNEWS that investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are “working tirelessly, dusting files to pin allegations of corruption against the dimpled General. Already, the commission, he continued, is combing Europe, America and the Arab world to locate Babangida’s loot allegedly stashed there.
Malam Nuhu Ribadu, EFCC Chairman, was alluding to this in a chat with this magazine last week when he said people like Babangida will not be allowed to rule Nigeria again. “We will never allow people who have stolen to use the same stolen resources to get into power,” Ribadu boasted.
TheNEWS sources revealed that if the EFCC option fails, Aso Rock would fall back on the Justice Oputa Report or the late Dr. Pius Okigbo report. The Oputa panel set up by the Obasanjo government in 2001 to investigate human rights abuses in the country indicted the IBB regime of masterminding the murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch via a letter bomb. The panel therefore, asked the relevant authority to re-open investigation into the case. But before then, IBB and
Brigadier-General Haliru Akilu (retd), his Director of Military
Intelligence raced to the law court to stop the government from further investigating them. In a statement entitled, “The fact on the alleged murder of
Dele Giwa – Why General Ibrahim Babangida and Brigadier Akilu went to court,” Babangida stressed that people were playing politics with the murder of Giwa, adding that the Oputa panel was set up to rubbish him.
IBB, who was speaking through his counsel, Malam Yahaya Mahmood in
Kaduna, said: “We believe those playing politics with the murder of Dele Giwa know those who killed him and they are doing all they have been doing to divert attention. How come the explosion blew Giwa into pieces from the lower abdomen and left him in the pool of his own blood, while Kayode Soyinka escaped unhurt?’’
Five years after the court granted Babangida’s prayer, the Obasanjo government is set to appeal against that ruling. Aside the Oputa report, the government may revisit the Okigbo report on the Gulf Oil windfall which indicted Babangida of siphoning 12 billion dollars.“If government lawyers marshal their arguments logically, IBB will be convicted and that will put paid to his ambition,” a source explained.
But Godwin Daboh sees things differently. “Under President Obasanjo, there is greater corruption than when Babangida was in power. Nigeria was not listed among the most corrupt nations until Obasanjo became president in 1999. You will agree with me that by the year 2000, Nigeria was rated by Transparency International as the third most corrupt nation in the world. By 2002, we became the second most corrupt nation in the world,” Daboh argued.
On the notion that his annulment of MKO Abiola’s victory may scuttle
IBB’s march to power, Alex Akinyele thinks otherwise. He said the people of South West had forgiven the former ruler because, according to him, the decision to annul that election was supported by prominent Yorubas who were jealous of the rising profile of Abiola. “Babangida is the Pontius Pilate of the 21st Century. He did not want to annul the election because Abiola and IBB were very good friends. They dined together, they wined together and they did business together... But the SDP he which he belonged, the Obas, Emirs and the Khaki men did not want Abiola to be president because they believed if he was sworn-in, he would become another Colossus like Julius Caesar of Rome,” said Akinyele.
On the chances of Babangida in PDP, Akinyele said the party has lost focus and wondered why a serious politician like IBB would insist on being the party’s standard bearer. While assuring that IBB is the man to beat in 2007, the Ondo high chief stressed that the moment Vice President Atiku pulls out of PDP, it will be torn into shreds.
But will Babangida listen to Obasanjo?
It’s Nigerians buying Nigeria’s property. And it’s an organization that will be a good buy anyday. It will be a gold mine sooner or later. So, I think it’s a good thing that it’s sold to Transcorp. We just hope they will be able to turn it around.
Do you think the new owner has the capacity to turn around the fortune of the company?
The issue is that it’s not Transcorp that will come and work in NITEL. It’s a question of using human resources already there. We have capable hands in NITEL. The problem there is bureaucracy: when they have any project to carry out, it will first go to the Federal Executive Council for approval. Before it gets to the management it will take God knows how many days, weeks or months. And at the end of the day, the whole essence of the project is defeated. But now you have people that can take decision and implement the decision immediately. The people running Globacom and MTN are not superhuman beings. And it’s even workers from NITEL that helped to set up these new telecom companies. So, all the new owners need to do is motivate the staff on ground, orientate them to be customer-oriented. So, I see a future for NITEL in the hands of Transcorp. If outsiders had bought NITEL, they would have brought their people to do all these things. But now that the buyers are Nigerians, they will use Nigerians to do it. And the workers themselves are happy that they would have a breathing space to do what they know how to do better. So it’s not Transcorp that is coming to run NITEL. They bought NICON. Did you see any Transcorp man there as the steward or General Manager? They are using Nigerians. So, the same thing will happen in NITEL and Mtel.
So, you don’t expect them to sack any of the workers?
Definitely, they will choose who they want to work with. But we don’t want them to sack. NICON did not sack anybody in NICON-Hilton Hotel. They are people that know the worth of their brothers and know what is good for them. So, we are asking them to work with us. They should work with the unions. We have confidence in Transcorp.
Do you consider the $750 million paid by Transcorp for NITEL as appropriate?
I think it’s okay. What NITEL needs now is to make money for the Federal Government; the money to recapitalise it. Our concern now is what money Transcorp will pump into NITEL to make it a world class company and be able to compete against companies already on the ground. But even then, the price paid by Transcorp is far above $256 million bidded by Orascom. And you know what Pentascope did to NITEL between 2001 and now. So, I think it’s a good bargain.
TransCorp History
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc (TransCorp) was incorporated on 17 November 2004 in response to the need to establish a "Mega Corporation", "created" in Nigeria and owned by all Nigerians, which will respond to market opportunities that require heavy capital investment not just at home but in the sub-African region and around the world. TransCorp will be the vehicle to reposition Nigeria in Africa and the world, as a nation ready to compete in global markets. TransCorp is made up of Nigeria’s most influential business people and most successful businesses. Household names and the nation’s premier brands are all part of TransCorp
Vision and Mission
Our Vision is to create a globally competitive industrial conglomerate, which will supply World-class products and services to local and global markets Our Mission is to serve the Global Markets with premier products and services from World-Class production facilities based in Nigeria and managed by Nigerians TransCorp will reposition Nigeria in Africa and will reposition Africa to the rest of the World Imagine a Nigeria that supplies Markets in Angola, Zimbabwe and Botswana with consumer goods, provides the United States and Europe with refined petroleum products and supplies Energy to Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast. At the same time providing logistic and Information Technology support to Canada, Belgium and Argentina.
TransCorp is designed to meet six revenue centres, namely:
• Oil And Gas
• Agriculture And Agro Allied Business
• Information Technology
• Power
•International Trade
• Free Trade Zone/Industrial Park.
Transnational Oil and Gas will invest in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. The Transcorp Agriculture strategy is being built on the present administration’s agricultural policy. Transnational Technology will be set up to roll out solutions for industrial applications in inventory controls, shipping, production and supply chain management. It will also engage in commercial research and development facility for Corporate Nigeria and Africa.Transnational Power will build an independent power plant to supply residential and commercial residents in Nigeria, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Sao Tome, Gambia, Burkina Faso, etc. On the international trade arena, Transcorp aims at redirecting the main production facilities in China to meet Nigeria’s transfer prices and supply these markets. When successful, TransCorp will have a value chain of trade and investment built on the back of African consumers. This will also expand TransCorp’s ability to supply larger ex-African markets and achieve scale economies.
Government incentives
During its formal launch by President Obasanjo on 21 July, he announced some concessions granted the corporation as part of government’s support and encouragement. These include:
• Licence to build a 400,000 barrels per day refinery
• Licence to build an independent power plant
• Access to the federal government cassava report for the construction of a
cassava processing export facility
• Designated land mass for the construction of free port facilities
• Continued support to help open up markets on the African continent
• To make the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc a partner in Nigeria’s current policy on Private-Public partnership, creating additional opportunities to develop large-scale projects in oil and gas, power and ICT. TransCorp’s plans to transform business in Nigeria In line with its objectives, TransCorp has already begun to deliberately position itself to take hold of its promised future. In addition to the above projections,
• It has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited for the setting up of a refinery in Nigeria.
. It is assessing the value and integrity of the nation’s refineries to decide whether an acquisition in the on-going privatisation exercise would be necessary. • It plans to acquire the pipeline infrastructure of the Petroleum and Pipelines Marketing Company (PPMC) and to expand on that network to develop Africa’s largest network of pipelines for crude, refined products and petrol-chemicals.
• It expects to bid for oil blocs as well as provide world-class production facilities for holders of other blocks in need of the most modern technology in farming out crude oil.
• It also expects to participate in upstream activities, especially in the emerging deep offshore exploration and production business.
• TransCorp intends to use most of its funds for working capital to purchase goods in large quantities from Asia and then supply them to the West African sub regional markets. Transcorp’s Strategic Approach In the Short Term: TransCorp will focus its energy on rapid growth by acquisition through participation in the federal government’s Privatization Programme by acquiring and turning around these otherwise inefficiently managed public enterprises. TransCorp hopes to enhance their value, provide superior returns to shareholders as well as build a consolidated conglomerate of subsidiary companies operating in diverse industries. In addition, TransCorp will expand the frontiers of trade all over Africa, especially with those nations that have benefited from Nigeria’s peace-keeping and other intervention efforts as they embark on post-conflict reconstruction. Trade will foster our relations and it shall bring wealth to citizens of both nations.
In the Mid-Term: TransCorp will work assiduously to expand into industries that are presently the exclusive preserve of foreign-owned companies. This should not be the case. It is a challenge to Nigerian entrepreneurs and companies to enter the most lucrative sectors of our economies to bring real value. TransCorp will lead the way in this regard. We will recruit highly skilled Nigerian professionals from all across the world. We are confident that we will serve as the vehicle for a reverse brain drain. In this respect, TransCorp will take advantage of its ability to raise capital to build a Free Trade Zone of the kind and size that has never been seen in Africa. In addition, TransCorp will expand into upstream oil and gas business, provide industry inputs such as pipes, engage in the fabrication of equipment, facilities, chemicals and vessels. Indeed, we have big dreams and we believe that the first step to reaching these dreams begins with the faith that investors place in Transcorp with their capital.
In the Long Term: TransCorp will be fully established in the business-focus areas outlined in its Strategic Business Model. These areas are Information and Communications Technology (ICT); Oil & Gas/ Energy; and Hospitality and Trade. In the Long-Term, TransCorp would have expanded not around Africa,but also around the World, demonstrating in clear terms the ability of Nigeria to supply the world with goods and services that can compete with the best in the world in terms of quality. We will run with the best and the best will be compared to us. We will achieve that with your support and continued faith in the value we can and will deliver. Nigerians will recognize our investments because they will have the same over-riding quality; whether it is a turnaround company or a Greenfield project, our standards will be world-class. We are determined to achieve this in the products we make, the services we deliver, our citizenship in the communities we operate, and the way our corporation is governed.
These are the directors, who are also the founding fathers of TransCorp:
Dr. (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) since the year 2000. She is serving as the start-up Chairman of TransCorp. Okereke-Onyiuke was between 1976 and 1983 consultant to the New York Stock Exchange, Special Assistant to the Nigerian Permanent Mission in the UN (1973-1976) and later adjunct Professor, Finance Department, New York University. She also once served as Commercial Consultant, African American Institute.
Bernard Ojeifo Longe He was named the Group Managing Director of TransCorp in June 2006. Mr. Longe, who has over three and half decades of experience in banking and the real sector is a former Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria plc.
Nicholas Okoye Hitherto the Technical Adviser to the Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, he is the Group Executive Director of TransCorp, with responsibilities including group strategy, coordination and business development.
Festus Odimegwu CEO of Nigeria’s biggest brewer, Nigerian Breweries, Odimegwu is a product of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he bagged a first class in Chemistry. Odimegwu ruffled feathers with his strong support for the third term agenda of President Olusegun Obasanjo. For this, shareholders of Nigerian Breweries gave him a hair-dryer during its last Annual General Meeting, AGM, and he is believed to have been shoved aside from his high position in the organisation.
Aliko Dangote
President and CEO of the Dangote Group of Companies. Dangote believes firmly in wealth creation. A sugar and rice magnate, a major transporter, a former banker, an Insurance broker and a cement merchant, Aliko also recently made forays into the crude oil business. Aliko Dangote sits atop a flourishing business empire. Although he is barely 50, he sits strong in the old economy while making significant inroads in the new economy. He is widely connected within the business and political circles. He bought over Federal Government’s shares in Benue Cement Company, BCC. It is to Aliko’s credit that he successfully transformed a small trading business which he began in 1977 at the age of 21 to a multi-billion Naira business which now spans the West African sub-region. He maintains a domineering presence in consumables. He has built factories and established production plants across the country for various brands, from spaghetti, to cement, to salt, flour and sugar. His company is also into the production of Gum-Arabic which is used as adhesive. But that is not all, Dangote Group is also into textile production. He recently acquired majority shares in Savannah Sugar company in Adamawa. He is presently undertaking a simultaneous construction of three cement factories in Kogi, Cross River and Ogun states which on completion will make the country self-sufficient in cement production. His annual turnover, according to close sources, is the region of N150 billion. He was appointed a member of Nigeria Investment and Promotion Council by President Obasanjo. It will be recalled that, Dangote played a prominent role in the funding of Obasanjo’s re-election to which he contributed over N200 million. He was once touted as successor to President Obasanjo, whose election in 1999 he partly financed, but he has so far elected to stay out of politics. He is a lover of polo and is never scared of taking business risks. Dangote has remained very close to the president since then.
Jim Ovia
MD/CEO, Zenith International Bank Co-founder of and pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive of Zenith International Bank plc. Ovia is also a member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group and was the pioneer President of the Nigeria Internet Group. His bank provides services in private consumer and investment banking. Ovia has built his bank almost from nothing to become one of Nigeria’s most profitable banks in terms of asset size of N68 billion. The bank is also in the top four bracket in terms of its shareholders’ funds of N15.7 billion. Total assets and contingent liabilities are currently estimated at N215. 2 billion. With substantial interests in e-commerce and information technology, Zenith was the first Nigerian bank to appear on the Internet. He has led the way in delivering financial services electronically. Recently, Zenith Bank won Central Bank’s recognition and approval as one of the few settlement banks in the country. Industry watchers consider this a bold sign of the bank’s success. Ovia is the pioneer President of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), a non-governmental organisation. He has over 23 years of banking experience. He began is banking career in 1980 as a financial analyst with International Merchant Bank (IMB) in 1980. By 1987, he had risen to the management cadre. From IMB, he moved to Merchant Bank of Africa, where he was head of corporate banking between 1987 and 1990. He holds an MBA from University of Louisiana, and a Bachelor’s degree from Southern University, Louisiana. He is also an alumnus of Executive Education of Harvard University.
Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe He is the Managing Director & Chief Executive of First Bank of Nigeria plc, a pioneer institution in the Nigerian banking industry. He replaced Mr. Benard Longe after the IILL debacle of 2002 rocked the bank. Otunba Funso Lawal Chief Executive Officer of the Charterhouse Group, a Lagos-based consulting and financial advisory services group.
Femi Otedola
CEO, Zenon
He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, the company that is currently sitting at the commanding heights of the nation’s diesel and kerosene business. He is a firm believer in deregulation. He started Zenon about five years ago and within a short time seized control of the market. He is a pacesetter in the downstream sector, expanding the frontiers of competition. He once boasted that he wants to build an empire. From nowhere, Zenon is today rated among the top five companies in the country. In a recent interview, he said: "We are investing our money here, to create job opportunities for people. Nobody is going to take the money outside the country." Apart from being the biggest diesel and kerosene marketer in Nigeria today, he is said to be the biggest ship owner in the country, which partly explains his recent nomination as President of Nigeria Chambers of Shipping, a powerful and highly influential body in the maritime sector. The oil baron and shipping magnate also bought 100 brand new DAF trucks from Netherlands to strengthen his distribution arm. Zenon now boasts of a total storage capacity of more than 147,000 metric tonnes total holding of diesel, making it the biggest depot owner with the largest single storage capacity in the country. He is also the owner of Atlas Shipping Agency, Swift Insurance, FO Properties Limited, FO Transport and Seaforce Shipping Company Ltd. His appointment into the board of Nigeria Investment and Promotion Council, NIPC, observers believe, is the President’s vote of confidence on the young man’s business abilities. It is for this that he was also nominated by the President on the team of top Nigerian businessmen to go on an investment drive to South Africa. They essentially met and interacted with the South African business community and the South African President, Thabo Mbeki. On his part, Otedola contributed well over N100 million to President Obasanjo’s re-election expenses. Though little was known about him some years back, Otedola is today one of the richest Nigerians. He recently bought a pad in London for 17 million pounds. He owes his wealth largely to his chummy relationship with the President.
Tony Elumelu
He is the pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive of the former Standard Trust Bank plc which recently merged with United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc. Tony is currently the Managing Director of the enlarged UBA Group, arguably the largest bank in Nigeria.
Tony Ezenna
The Chief Executive Officer of Orange Drugs, a dominant player in the pharmaceutical business in Nigeria.
Adegboyega Olulade He was at various times the Head of Capital and Money Market of Farida Investment and Securities Limited. He is presently the chairman of many companies.
On take-off, the corporation was granted, among other concessions, approval to build a $250 million (about N33.25 billion) 400,000 barrels per day refinery in Lekki Free Port Zone, a licence to build an independent power plant, access to the federal government cassava report to facilitate its construction of a cassava processing export facility, and oil blocs to enable it participate actively in the upstream sector of the oil industry.
A wide advantage, indeed, TransCorp has. That privilege is, however, becoming an albatross. Last week, when the corporation added the ailing Nigeria Telecommunications Limited, NITEL, to its seemingly endless string of acquisitions, all hell broke loose. Tongues are beginning to wag on the manner of the creation of TransCorp and on the transparency, or lack of it, in its purchase of federal government’s assets from the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. To Pat Utomi, a political economist and presidential aspirant in the 2007 election, TransCorp was formed to cream off the little growth being recorded in the economy. "That is the problem with the TransCorp idea. A few individuals who have access to power are taking away all the gains personally, directly," Utomi fumed. Adedayo Ojo, TransCorp’s Vice President on Communications, however, retorted that the Lagos Business School don was only shouting sour grapes because he was not a member of the privileged founders’ class. "TransCorp was founded essentially as the Nigerian idea of a world-class company to match the multinationals, the big foreign companies, in the transaction of business in Nigeria and beyond.
It would only be fair to hold TransCorp up to the same business standards that apply to all other companies. It is some people who were not lucky to be part of the pioneer team that are crying foul. Would Utomi be complaining if he was part of the team?" Ojo wondered.
Maybe he would. Maybe not. Only President Obasanjo who invited the pioneer investors in TransCorp could explain why he left out a business technocrat and administrator like Utomi out of the team. In an interview with TheNEWS some months ago, the chairperson of TransCorp, Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who is also the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, admitted that TransCorp was Obasanjo’s brainchild. The idea is argued to be a practical manifestation of the articulated vision of the president and his economic team. The vision, in the main, aims to shift emphasis on management of the national economy from public to private sector initiative. In the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS, document, government maintains that the private sector would be the executor, investor and manager of businesses. To this end, TransCorp, especially is endorsed by government as a platform for captains of industry and finance to invest in and build an international conglomerate that could give Nigeria a competitive edge to participate globally.
Those invited to kick off TransCorp included Okereke-Onyiuke, Bernard Ojeifo Longe, former managing director of First Bank of Nigeria plc who was last week announced as the new managing director and chief executive officer of TransCorp; Nicholas Okoye, formerly Technical Adviser to Okereke-Onyiuke at NSE, but now Group Executive Director of TransCorp; Festus Odimegwu, MD/CEO of Nigerian Breweries plc, who is now on leave; Jim Ovia, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank plc; Tony Elumelu, MD/CEO of UBA plc; Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe, MD/CEO of First Bank of Nigeria plc; Aliko Dangote, billionaire president and CEO of the Dangote Group of Companies; Otunba Funsho Lawal, CEO of Charterhouse Group, a Lagos-based consulting and financial advisory services group; Femi Otedola, president and CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited; Tony Ezenna, CEO of Orange Drugs and Adegboyega Olulade, an investment banker and stockbroker. Alhaji Waziri Mohammed, former chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, who died in the Bellview plane crash last December, was also a member of the team. TransCorp has its sight set on six revenue centres, namely: oil and gas, agriculture and agro-allied business, information technology, power, international trade and free trade zone. A subsidiary, Transnational Oil and Gas, is already investing in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. Apart from the approval granted the subsidiary to build a refinery, it has also been awarded oil blocs and is participating in bid for the New Port Harcourt Refinery Limited, a two-plant, 210,000 barrels a day facility with huge potentials for expansion.
Transnational Technology will roll out solutions for industrial applications in inventory controls, shipping, production and supply chain management. It will also engage in commercial research and development facility for Nigeria and Africa. Another arm, Transnational Power, plans to build an independent power plant to supply residential and commercial users in Nigeria, Ghana, Equitorial Guinea, Senegal, Sao Tome, Gambia, Burkina Faso, etc. A licence to build an IPP has been approved.
Transnational Industrial Park/Export Free Zone has been slated for Lekki Free Port area of Lagos State. Most of its businesses will be located in its industrial park. All business units that have production units, such as refining, raw material processing, agro-allied business and the ICT centre will be located there.
TransCorp, which President Obasanjo argued was formed as "Nigeria’s emulation of a step already taken by latest successful industrial countries like China, South Korea and India," is attracting both flak and encomium from Nigerians. Whereas some agreed that there is truly need for a big Nigerian player like TransCorp to compete effectively in the sophisticated global economy, others frowned at the composition of the TransCorp membership and are raising questions on the source of the huge funds being used to acquire the company’s assets. The corporation, it is observed, is populated by those described as acolytes of the president, most of who supported his unsuccessful bid for a third term. Odimegwu, the Nigerian Breweries CEO, never hid the fact that members of Corporate Nigeria, a group of influential business men and women, who always applaud Obasanjo’s reform policies, were solidly in support of the third term agenda. These people are believed to be the financial backers of the agenda, although none of them owned up to it. What they could not deny, however, was their huge contributions to the president’s re-election in 2003 and his Presidential Library project launched in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on 14 May 2005. Donors to the library project, which is gulping N7 billion, included Mike Adenuga, the oil and telecommunications mogul, who put down N250 million; Aliko Dangote, N211 million; Femi Otedola, N200 million; a consortium of banks whose names were not mentioned, N622 million and the Nigeria Ports Authority, $1 million.
Just as queries were raised on the source of such huge donations to the library project, eyebrows are being raised on the source of the huge funds the directors are expending on TransCorp’s purchases. The company commenced operations with an initial share capital of N56 billion and hopes to raise an additional N66 billion from the capital market through its Initial Public Offer due for the third quarter of 2006. The corporation acquired Nicon-Hilton in October 2005 for $105 million. It is expected to have, by 10 July 2006, paid $500 million of the $750 million it is paying for the 75 per cent stake it is taking over in NITEL. There is the insinuation that some directors may be dipping their hands into shareholders’ funds of the companies they head to feather TransCorp’s nest. Ojo, the corporation’s communication VP, however, dispelled such fears. "Such practice is most unethical and TransCorp would not be involved in such a thing," he told TheNEWS.
Last week, when this magazine made efforts to speak with Okereke-Onyiuke, Okoye or Longe, the new MD/CEO, they were said to be engaged in meetings, trips and consultations on meeting the target date for the NITEL final payment. "All of them are busy running about. So you can see they are not just sitting idle expecting manna from somewhere," Ojo said. "And why are the critics not talking about the fact that TransCorp secured a credit line of one billion euros from the European Economic Union, EEU," he asked. Okereke-Onyiuke had disclosed the fact about the credit facility and the intention to pump the sum of $1 billion into reviving NITEL.
Okereke-Onyiuke’s dual role in both TransCorp, which has been listed on the exchange, and the NSE where she is the director-general, is also being questioned. Some critics wonder how she would not suffer from conflict of interest in the issue of TransCorp’s stock. So far, figures on TransCorp’s transactions have only been what emanated from its top officials alone and have not been subjected to public scrutiny. Late in 2005, TransCorp set out to raise N6 billion from private placement. The offer was over-subscribed raking in N17 billion. The names of contributors of the placement and how much each contributed are, however, shrouded in secrecy. But Ojo did not see anything untoward in this. Again, he pleaded that TransCorp should be accorded the same business standards that all other companies are subjected to. "How many banks, during the consolidation exercise in their industry, disclosed the names and financial details publicly of their investors, especially on private placement? How many companies make figures and names in their private placements public?" he asked. He assured that whenever it is necessary to make any information about TransCorp’s transactions public, its officials would not tarry for one second in doing so.
Ojo was furious about the report that the shares of TransCorp would sell for N10 each when it eventually goes on offer. No such price has been fixed, according to Ojo, who was miffed with what he called unfounded reports and write-ups on TransCorp’s activities. Okereke-Onyiuke, he posited, can be trusted in matters involving TransCorp at the NSE. The NSE boss is legally allowed to hold her post at the NSE while she shares the board of a quoted firm, Ojo said, as he explained that the World Federation of Stock Exchanges, a long time ago, gave stock exchange bosses the go-ahead to man such dual offices. The TransCorp spokesman wondered, for instance, why nobody has been criticising Raymond Obieri, chairman of the NSE, for also simultaneously chairing many boards of quoted companies. Question of ethics is also being raised on President Obasanjo’s possible link with TransCorp. The president has been accused of favouritism in the many concessions he granted TransCorp. Such undue advantage, as some critics view it, is not unlikely to breed lack of transparency and all sorts of shady deals. The president has never hidden his deep affection for the TransCorp initiative, which he created anyway. "We are not saying that this corporation will solve all of our economic problems and put Nigeria squarely on the path to economic prosperity. But it is a very good start and if well-operated or managed, it is bound to serve as a strong anchor for our economic progress," he stated. Obasanjo declared his readiness to purchase shares of the firm, through his Obasanjo Farms Limited, when it goes on offer. Okereke-Onyiuke herself admitted Obasanjo’s interest in TransCorp: "It is not government-owned, although government is nurturing it."
Many Nigerians remain unconvinced about the defence of TransCorp’s officials on Obasanjo’s position towards the corporation and its dependence on the presidency. One incident last week, the sack of Fola Adeola, pioneer MD/CEO of TransCorp, brightly illuminated the arguments of antagonists of Obasanjo’s close link with TransCorp. The announcement of the dismissal of Adeola as TransCorp’s boss came after the corporation’s board visited Obasanjo in Aso Rock. The former MD/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc was also removed as chairman of the Pension Commission, PENCOM. Analysts have been linking the visit of the TransCorp board with the sack timing. Obasanjo is believed to have directed the board to remove Adeola for certain reasons.
One is the speculation that the former banker was humiliated for his uncooperative stance on the president’s third term ambition. In many media interviews then, Adeola made it clear that he was opposed to any sit-tight disposition. This declaration was said to have irked Obasanjo who personally installed Adeola, then a trusted boy, as boss of both PENCOM and TransCorp. Longe was understood to have been preferred by the TransCorp board, but the president overruled them. Another factor is Adeola’s touted senatorial ambition. He is believed to be interested in the Ogun Central senatorial district seat, where incidentally, Iyabo, the president’s daughter and Commissioner for Health in the state, has been feverishly campaigning for the same seat. Adeola’s two plum jobs were said by some political sources in Ogun State to have been sacrificed for Iyabo’s own political cause.
The NITEL deal has further thrown up TransCorp into public focus. NITEL is the dominant fixed line operator in Nigeria, with approximately 77 percent of the market and operations in all 36 states of Nigeria. M-tel, its subsidiary, is the number four mobile telephony operator, with approximately one million subscribers by the end of 2005. NITEL has the most extensive network in Nigeria, with the ability to provide telecom services to its customers throughout the country. In addition, it has a 7.33 percent share in the South Atlantic Telecommunication/ West African Submarine Cable Organisation, SAT3/WASC. It also has a 6.91 percent share in the Regional African Satellite Organisation (RASCOM); a 21 percent share in the International Maritime Satellite Organisation, INMARSAT, and 0.07 percent shares in ICO Global Communications Ltd., I-CO.
TransCorp vowed it would turn NITEL into a more effective and efficient provider in the wireless, broadband, video, voice and data markets. To do this, it is partnering with British Telecoms, BT, with which it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to utilise its services in the management and operations of NITEL during the turnaround. TransCorp said it chose BT due to the fact that BT not only has the experience of managing the type of telecom infrastructure that TransCorp envisages for NITEL, it also has the unique experience of having, in 1984, undergone a successful privatisation process similar to the NITEL privatisation, in which BT was sold as an integrated company and has grown meteorically.
Similar to TransCorp’s aspirations for NITEL, BT has been transformed from the pre-privatization telecommunications company into a fully integrated IT company in the telecommunications sector. Prior to its privatisation, BT was languishing, laden with a huge debt burden of more than £30 billion, but has now been fully transformed. TransCorp believes that working with BT provides it the best opportunity for engineering the transformation of NITEL to regain its (NITEL’s) position as Africa’s flagship telecommunications provider. BT is playing a similar role (as a technical partner) for the Saudi Lebanese Company, Oger Telecom, winner of the recently concluded privatisation of Turk Telekom by the Turkish Government. The last competitive bidding for a 51 percent stake in NITEL was in December 2005 in which Orascom International of Egypt emerged as the highest bidder with a bid of $256 million. The offer was rejected by the federal government for being ridiculously low. But just as the BPE is still busy patting itself on the back for a job well done, questions are being raised on the propriety or otherwise of choosing TransCorp as core investor in the NITEL. For one, the ‘negotiated sale’ approach is being faulted as lacking all elements of transparency of the open bidding method which the Bureau had adopted for its other transactions. Again, the curious increase in the equity on offer to the investor from the advertised percentage of 51 to 75 for reasons not yet explained by the BPE is attracting attention.
Since TransCorp entered the race to acquire NITEL, there had been speculations that it was being favoured by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. Irene Chigbue, BPE Director-General, confirmed during her visit to a newspaper house in Abuja that TransCorp would be given the right of first refusal.
Denying that TransCorp was favoured because of its closeness to the presidency, she said "we have looked at them all (the bidders). The Transnational Corporation was the most vibrant in terms of consistent interest, in terms of appetite, in terms of preliminary evidence of resources to fund and revamp NITEL... There was the emotional attachment to NITEL as our collective asset. So, let a company with a fairly broad representation acquire NITEL." The disclosure of the BPE helmsman coincided with the visit to Obasanjo by the directors of TransCorp led by Okereke-Onyiuke.
Already, human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, has said the deal was in contravention of the constitution which he said prohibits concentration of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few individuals. The legal luminary has expressed his intention of challenging the sale in court. The Advanced Congress of Democrats, ACD, has also challenged the sale of NITEL to TransCorp, describing it as irresponsible. The fact that the people who own the corporation are friends of the president, whom he constantly patronises by influencing their appointment to high-flying offices and awarding them oil blocs, is one reason many are displeased.
Many also frown at the ethnic imbalance of the TransCorp board handpicked by the president and its domination by his known friends. For example, some big corporate players were left out by the president. One of them, observers say, is insurance baron, Remi Olowude, vice chairman of Industrial and General Insurance, IGI. It is suspected that the president will continue to favour the company in similar transactions.
Writing on the sale, Reuben Abati, Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian, said: "No, I am opposed to TransCorp. TransCorp is a bird of passage. It is just collection of Obasanjo boys and girls trying to capture the Nigerian economy. When a future government comes to power, you cannot rule out the fact that it will seek to meddle with TransCorp or whittle down its influence or scrap it altogether. You mark my words, TransCorp is too much of a national character kind of vehicle. It is too diffuse. It has too many big men all jostling for space. Besides, it has no experience in telecom, no technical capacity. There are also moral issues. Its Chairman, Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke is the Director-General of the Stock Exchange. She can be accused of a conflict of interest moreso now that TransCorp is going to the stock market to look for money.’’
Yet there are still many corporations to be sold, including the Nigeria Postal Service, and the country’s ailing refineries. Ezekiel Fatoye, Executive Director, Multilinks and former Executive Director at NITEL, also noted that "$750 million for 51 percent is reasonable but the $750 million paid for 75 percent is strange." The question is even more relevant vis-à-vis the price for NITEL when it’s realised that all government corporations have been instructed to pay their debts to the telecom company. So, the NITEL which TransCorp bought is one devoid of encumbrances of debts. Was there a deliberate ploy to ensure the emergence of TransCorp as a core investor in NITEL based on the mega corporation’s connection with Obasanjo? That’s the question many analysts in the Nigerian socio-political circle were pondering over last week. Utomi queried the rationale as well as the business model being adopted by the company. "Look at the TransCorp companies. What is the relationship between the companies they bought and how does this relate to the national policy? Does something say to us that there is something that will lead to long-term growth of these enterprises? You are in refining, you are in hotel business, you are in manufacturing, you are in agriculture, anything goes…" said Utomi.
But to Okoye, the TransCorp ED, critics like Utomi are only being myopic and unpatriotic. "TransCorp is about the Nigerian dream. It is about putting Nigeria on the map of giant economies of the world." The TransCorp ED insists it is part of the answer to the nation’s economic crisis. "With TransCorp, things would be done according to world class standards. No more sub-standard products. With TransCorp, Nigeria would exploit its comparative advantages, especially going by the attendant economy of scales that would come with it," he stated. He said Nigeria has been lagging behind because of the absence of mega indigenous companies with the necessary expertise and skill to compete globally "and that is why Nigerian companies did not get any thing from its efforts in Sudan, Liberia and so on."
He believed Nigeria would have reaped the benefits of its efforts in these countries the way United States of America did in Iraq and any other nation it sends troops for liberation or peace keeping. Nigeria, he warned, might not gain anything from Liberia’s rebuilding process. "Liberia would soon embark on massive reconstruction. Where are the Nigerian companies featured here despite the nation’s great efforts towards ensuring peace and stability in that country? We have lost colossal amount of human and financial resources in trying to keep peace in countries like Liberia and other African nations. But there are no rewards for us. United States ensures that American companies benefit from its exploration anywhere in the world. But Nigeria does not because we don’t have the companies that can handle such international projects," he explained.
NITEL workers who spoke with TheNEWS would rather not bother who the new core investor is. Jeje Odeajo, General Secretary, National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees, NUPTE, told this magazine on telephone last week that the most important thing now is to ensure that the staff to be disengaged from NITEL get their pensions. Peace Obiajulu, President of both the Trade Union Congress and Senior Staff Association at NITEL, was glad that the telecom company was eventually sold to a Nigerian firm: "I see a future for NITEL in the hands of TransCorp. The workers themselves are happy that they would have a breathing space to do what they know how to do better."
Okereke-Onyiuke is urging all Nigerians to buy the TransCorp shares when it comes on offer, in line with Obasanjo’s desire to make it a truly public corporation. But how much of its shares would be thrown open to the public in all sincerity considering the fact that its pioneer directors have invested heavily in its financial transactions so far and would wish to recoup their investments in the shortest possible time? Questions, questions, questions. To dispel the spreading apprehension on the corporation, its directors would have to start laying the cards on the table sooner than they think. – Additional reports by Oluokun Ayorinde, Michael Mukwuzi, Tony Orilade and
Desmond Utomwen.
TransCorp Must Work With NITEL Unions Peace Obiajulu, President, Trade Union Congress and member, Senior Staff Association of NITEL, spoke to TheNEWS on the sale of the company to TransCorp. She spoke to Oluokun Ayorinde.
Q: What’s your reaction to the sale of NITEL to Transcorp?
IBB 'Bury Your Dream'-TheNEWS/Saharareporters
Last View on Thu 8th January, 2009
Last Modified on Tue 27th June, 2006 5:46:40 am
BABAJIDE KOLADE- OTITOJU & Francis Ottah Agbo
President Olusegun Obasanjo rejects the candidacy of ex-military president, Ibrahim Babangida for 2007 and tells him to his face Meetings between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida in Aso Rock is common. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Unlike many retired servicemen, Babangida, until recently, was very much at home with the Nigerian leader and once boasted that if he had an advice to give he walks into the seat of power to give Obasanjo. The point Babangida was making on a particular day when he met with journalists was that rather than criticise Obasanjo on the pages of newspapers he tells him he is wrong in private.
But Obasanjo’s preoccupation with remaining in office beyond 2007 appeared to have hurt the chummy relationship that existed between both retired Generals. Obasanjo’s life presidency ambition alerted Babangida to the need to stop him. He then teamed up with others, including retired Generals and Vice President Atiku Abubakar to frustrate Obasanjo. He regularly condemned the third term project on the pages of local newspapers and foreign radio stations.
So by the time Babangida met his former boss behind closed doors at the
Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Wednesday 14 June, it was clear that the basis for disagreement already existed between the two ambitious ex-servicemen.
Indeed, both President Obasanjo and former military president, Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida (IBB) was meeting formally for the first time since the president signed the Electoral Bill 2006 into law. Babangida had expressed a desire to plunge head-on into the presidential race once the Electoral Bill was signed into law, during a meeting with journalists in his Minna hilltop mansion three months ago and Obasanjo was aware of this. Top on the get-together’s agenda was IBB’s presidential ambition.
Obasanjo was said to have surprised his guest when he advised him to jettison his presidential ambition and join forces with him to shop for a younger candidate, preferably from the South South geo-political zone. He told him that it would be safe for IBB not to contest. He said that if he (Obasanjo) had known that his own popularity rating would be so bad the way it has turned out he would not have been persuaded to run.
Besides, he warned Babangida that he is not wanted by the international community. ‘‘You know that you can not travel to the US today,’’ he was quoted to have said.
Though the president was careful not to disclose his choice in the course of their discussion, a source in the villa told this magazine that he had zeroed in on Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State.
The president’s choice, our source reasoned, was predicated on the belief that only a president of South South extraction can assuage the restive youths from that geo-politicalzone who are engaged in embarrassing hostage taking.
Besides, the president believes only a less controversial and loyal governor like Duke can sustain the reforms instituted by his government.
“Baba told IBB that there was no vacancy for him in PDP, as the party hierarchy had fashioned its succession plan after the American political system where governors are usually positioned to succeed outgoing presidents,” a top source in the presidency told TheNEWS.
Obasanjo’s undisguised antipathy to the Minna-born General’s presidential ambition allegedly irritated him, as he threatened to defect to another political party. Sensing the impairment IBB’s defection may cause the PDP, Obasanjo reportedly pleaded with him not to dump “our party,” promising that IBB will be given the nod to nominate the running mate to the PDP flag bearer in the 2007 presidential election. But IBB was not impressed with that option. And at that point the meeting ended, with both men not forgetting to shake hands. But stepping out of the meeting, it was clear that IBB was not in a good frame of mind. He was in no mood to talk to aides, neither was he smiling.
In no time, what transpired in the meeting became known to members of
IBB’s political jobbers, throwing them into confusion. But the self-styled evil genius is not giving up just yet. Even if he knows he has a hill to climb in realising his ambition to rule Nigeria once again, he still fancies his chances. Last month, IBB reportedly influenced the registration of a new party – Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) – using the duo of Governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State and former factional leader of All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, and General Jeremiah Useni as links men. Consequently, both Bafawara and Useni dumped the ANPP which they helped to found.
IBB is expected to launch his ambition on the platform of the party, especially if he is unable to clinch the PDP ticket. The IBB group had long planned to melt into the newly registered DPP, having realised that the ANPP is in the firm grip of Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State.‘‘We want IBB to be the next president. And we wanted him to run on the ticket of ANPP. But we moved in droves to DPP because Modu Sheriff and the Zamfara governor had a strong influence over the party,” one of
Bafarawa’s aides said. For now, the strategy is working like a charm.
Prominent politicians of Igbo stock who had hitherto pooh-poohed IBB have been wooed into the fold. Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, former Senate President, is one of them. Anyim, who was reportedly nursing presidential ambition, not only dropped it but agreed to galvanize support for the gap-toothed General in the South East. It was, therefore, not surprising to observers that the DPP named Anyim Chairman of its Mobilisation Committee. Even Chief Joe Nwodo, one- time presidential aspirant and elder brother of former Governor Okwesilieze Nwodo of Enugu State is said to be in the IBB column.
DPP is not the only party championing the IBB cause. In fact, the
National Democratic Party (NDP) had two years ago, pronounced IBB its consensus presidential candidate for the 2007 elections. The party’s position was made public by its National Chairman, Alhaji Habu Fari.
“General Ibrahim Babangida remains the consensus presidential candidate for 2007 because of all the politicians gallivanting the Nigerian political scene, only IBB can convincingly win election in the six
geo-political zones,” Fari argued.
Besides, over 20 associations which had hitherto gone underground as a result of the third term infamy have fused into one umbrella body called The Nigeria Project 2007. The group meets regularly to fine-tune strategies to actualise IBB’s presidential ambition. Already, the body has opened Project 2007 offices in the 36 state capitals.
Dr. Godwin Daboh, National Chairman of Concerned Nigerians For IBB, one of the 20 organisations founded to drum up support for IBB, said all was set for the formal declaration of the ex-martial ruler. While stressing that only God can stop IBB from standing election in 2007, the
Deputy National Auditor of PDP said IBB has been consulting with Nigerians for the past one year and had been waiting for the election with great pride.
‘‘There are over 20 groupings that constitute Project 2007. We have enough funds for the first phase of the campaign already. We have campaign offices in the 36 states of the country. Once the PDP releases its guideline for the election, IBB will formally launch his campaign in one of the North Central states,” he boasted.
He also hinted that contrary to media reports that Obasanjo has dumped
IBB, the former will back the latter. Interestingly, Babangida believes he can capture the presidency without the support of the presidency.
His strength, his supporters claim, lies on the thighs of the electorate.
To this end, the Armoured General has continued to spread his tentacles to all nooks and crannies of the country, attending major occasions, making new friends and consolidating his links with opinion moulders.
Governor George Akume of Benue State is one person IBB is desperate to woo into his campaign train. The permutation is that with Akume on his side, Vice President Atiku Abubakar will become weaker, since Akume is known to be very loyal to the Nigerian number two man, who is another strong contender for the presidency come 2007. IBB also thinks with Akume on his side he can win Benue State easily.
So when the governor last month invited the former military ruler to his nephew’s wedding in Makurdi, IBB turned it to a political rally of sorts. Accompanied by Governors of Sokoto State (Attahiru Bafarawa);
Niger State (Abdulkadir Kure), some National Assembly members spread across party lines and other categories of politicians, the toothy General held IBB Square, venue of the reception spell-bound. His posters with inscriptions: “2007; Sai IBB” and ‘‘IBB: No Shaking’’ were all over the place. At the end of the occasion, the import of the wedding was not lost on political watchers. “What you have seen today is a political wedding. The way IBB was received clearly shows that Benue people love him and in 2007, he will capture Benue,” Matthew Odu, socio-political commentator said.
Before the ‘‘Makurdi jamboree” IBB who had left power 13 years ago had used the wedding of his children to test his popularity. In September
2003, the wedding of his daughter, Aisha to Bashir Lado Garba, a nephew of the late General Abacha in Minna, Niger State capital was a roll call of who is who in Nigeria. The General and his foot soldiers no doubt, used it to re-align forces and prove that IBB can still pull a large crowd.
The ceremony saw the deceased first lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, representing her husband, President Obasanjo who was on leave in his Ota farm.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his wife, Titi and former military heads of State, General Yakubu Gowon and General Abdulsalami Abubakar also graced the occasion. Others at the ceremony were 31 state governors,
62 senators and 69 members of the House of Representatives, over 50 retired military top brass, ministers, over 200 former federal lawmakers, clerics and ministers and civil society groups.
However, conspicuously absent in Minna were former military ruler,
Muhammadu Buhari, former president Shehu Shagari and his deputy, Alex
Ekwueme. But the question is whether or not a wedding bash can translate to electoral victory. Dr. Adebayo Fatade, a social worker and sociologist explained the political undertone of the wedding. “I think to appreciate the political significance of the wedding of General Babangida’s daughter, it is better to situate the issues in perspective. Babangida is a former military president and by far a very influential political figure in Nigeria today. He also has the resources to deploy to any political fight,’’ he analyzed.
While describing Babangida as smart, the sociologist opined that given the large number of politicians at the wedding, the ex-military ruler cannot be underrated.
Fatade may be right. In 1992, the acclaimed winner of the June 12 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola organized what was then regarded as the biggest wedding in the history of Nigeria for his son, Kola. The bride, a daughter of another equally influential Nigerian, the late Chief Ossom from Kwale, in Delta State, also provided an opportunity for Abiola to test the political waters. Segun Adeniyi of ThisDay in his column on Thursday, September 11, 2003 argued that the huge turnout at the IBB Hilltop mansion may not translate to electoral victory for the “Prince of the Niger” if he decides to run for the presidency.
“Those who would, however, try to ascribe political significance to the attendance may have to take some lessons from the experience of second
Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme who celebrated his 70th birthday early this year (2003). The attendance was so head-swelling that the man and his handlers thought it was enough to win the presidency, only to learn in a hard way a few weeks later that it meant nothing.” Adeniyi was referring to the defeat of Ekwueme at the PDP Presidential primaries in Abuja by Obasanjo.
Beyond floating a new political party and attending social functions,
Babangida is also reaching out to former African leaders and world leaders like American president, George W. Bush and his British counterpart, Prime Minister Tony Blair for support. Immediate past president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, in an interview with a Nigerian daily stunned many when he canvassed support for Babangida.
Chief Alex Akinyele, former minister of Information in the IBB regime and promoter of his campaign in an interview with Newswatch said “it is these military guys that have local and international contacts. For instance, IBB calls any world leader one-on-one from his Hilltop house, Minna.”
Besides, the desperation to return to the vortex of power has pushed
Babangida into a chummy romance with native doctors. Godwin Daboh, another spin doctor of the IBB project told TheNEWS that spiritualists recently assembled in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State to “work on how to return IBB to power.”
The Juju men who were reportedly drawn from 26 states of the federation are believed to be coordinated by a famous Ibadan-based businessman. In spite of his body language and the declaration of intent early this year in Minna, many Nigerians still contend that IBB may not throw his hat into the ring. Those who hold this view say the odds are stacked against him.
Indeed, some of those who work in the Project 2007 are not sure of his plans and are as confused as other people. They say he has been acting like a reluctant aspirant and that contrary to media reports, he has not got solid structures in place to actualise his ambition. For example, unlike Vice President Atiku Abubakar who has already named a
Director-General for his campaign organisation in Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, former minister of Environment, the Babangida campaign remains uncoordinated and poorly funded despite the many billionaires purportedly promoting his vaunting ambition.
Professor Itse Sagay, SAN in a statement said Babangida is a yesterday’s man whose ideas are incongruous with the current political reality.
He advised Babangida to live a quiet life and enjoy his loot in Minna.
“I marvel at the cheek of a man like that who wants to come back. It is like fingering the nation in the eyes. He should go and bury his head in shame and allow the country to rest. He should forget about it not only in 2007 but for life. He should rather go for his retirement and be quietly begging God for forgiveness for the numerous atrocities he committed against mankind,” Sagay intoned.
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has been Babangida’s nemesis for many years. He chronicled the many sins of the Armoured General thus: ‘‘Babangida has no moral right, no political right to say he wants to rule Nigeria again. We will not forget his atrocities. Questions will be asked about how Dele Giwa was killed, how he mismanaged our economy and how they killed MKO Abiola.”
Reverend Chris Okotie, pastor of Household of God Church and presidential aspirant of Fresh Democratic Party calls on Nigerians to revolt against Babangida and his co-travellers, noting that Babangida will not contest.
Malam Shehu Sani, President of the Civil Right Congress (CRC) and one time coordinator of Campaign for Democracy (CD) wants Babangida and other ex-military leaders banned from participating in politics. He argued that democracy cannot flourish when it is manned by ex-martial rulers.
“Our democracy cannot be democratic until and unless we have civilians with a civilian mentality to man the affairs of Nigeria. That is why we must be wary of military men coming to power. We must stop IBB and others like him. Obasanjo has protected them because he is part of them. He has over the years demonstrated that he came from that class. He (Obasanjo) has done everything to shield them from prosecution,” Sani reasoned.
Though Professor Tam David-West, former Minister of Petroleum believes
IBB is qualified to run, he, however, predicted that he will meet his waterloo at the election. His words: “Nobody should vote for Babangida.
He has nothing to offer. I worked with him. I have said that in many articles. He has a right to contest as a citizen but if he joins the fray, he won’t win, because Babangida is electoral deficit.”
Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka described IBB’s ambition as an insult on Nigerians. He called on Nigerians not to fall prey to the antics of the military. “Let us not dance to the musical chairs being played by the military. Enough is enough. We are being insulted left, right and centre. People shoot their way to power, accumulate mass and mass of wealth and then use all the resources they have accumulated through illegal means to come and dominate our lives. What is it?” queried
Soyinka.
Olatunji Dare, celebrated columnist and university teacher warned that no Nigerian should take Babangida’s presidential ambition seriously until he offers explanation on his role in the criminal annulment of June 12 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by businessman, Chief MKO Abiola.
Writing in the Tuesday 13 June edition of The Comet, Dare listed many obstacles on the path of the former dictator. “Not so fast general. You have a lot to explain. I raise here only two issues that have been crying out insistently for an explanation: ‘June 12,’ and the Dele Giwa Murder. Babangida has never deigned to explain why he annulled the 1993 presidential election.”
And for good measure, he argued that Babangida annulled the election purely for selfish reasons. According to him, the former military president, “for reasons of personalambition, lust for power and failure of leadership, annulled the election. He turned the dawn that promised a bright new day into darkness and rejoicing into mourning. This brought to an abrupt end, his 8-year transition that had gulped a major chunk of the country’s resources,’’ Dare lamented.
Though the former military dictator had tried to exculpate himself by setting up a panel of distinguished Nigerians to look into the murder, the fact that the panel was never inaugurated remains a failure on his part. Now, he is desperate to return to an office he abdicated in a hurry 13 years ago. But for Dare, “he cannot afford to enter the presidential race as an un-indicted suspect in one of the most sensational murder cases in Nigeria’s history.”
Even the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has threatened to stop IBB. Already, it is planning to organize a nationwide fasting exercise to be observed by all devout Christians. In a chat with newsmen, CAN
President, His Lordship, Jasper Akinola said it had become imperative to stop Babangida because, according to him, if voted into office, his government will be anti-Christian. While wondering why a man whose government squandered over 12 billion dollars in oil windfall, and plunged the country into crisis occasioned by his criminal annulment of June 12 presidential election will plot a comeback to power, Akinola reminded
Christians that it was Babangida that attempted to Islamize Nigeria in the
1980s. “Babangida tried to no avail to smuggle Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) without considering the multi-religious and complex nature of the country, without subjecting such a sinister intention to a referendum. Any attempt to make Babangida a ruler is an invitation to chaos,” warned Akinola.
CAN also blame Babangida squarely for the politicization of religion.
The religious body believes that if Babangida had allowed the June 12 election won by a Muslim/ Muslim ticket, it would have provided a “reference point” for resolving the controversy religion continues to generate in the polity.
If CAN goes spiritual to put spanner in IBB’s political wheel then the presidency has a joker in the instrumentality of the law. A senior aide of the Nigerian president told TheNEWS that investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are “working tirelessly, dusting files to pin allegations of corruption against the dimpled General. Already, the commission, he continued, is combing Europe, America and the Arab world to locate Babangida’s loot allegedly stashed there.
Malam Nuhu Ribadu, EFCC Chairman, was alluding to this in a chat with this magazine last week when he said people like Babangida will not be allowed to rule Nigeria again. “We will never allow people who have stolen to use the same stolen resources to get into power,” Ribadu boasted.
TheNEWS sources revealed that if the EFCC option fails, Aso Rock would fall back on the Justice Oputa Report or the late Dr. Pius Okigbo report. The Oputa panel set up by the Obasanjo government in 2001 to investigate human rights abuses in the country indicted the IBB regime of masterminding the murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch via a letter bomb. The panel therefore, asked the relevant authority to re-open investigation into the case. But before then, IBB and
Brigadier-General Haliru Akilu (retd), his Director of Military
Intelligence raced to the law court to stop the government from further investigating them. In a statement entitled, “The fact on the alleged murder of
Dele Giwa – Why General Ibrahim Babangida and Brigadier Akilu went to court,” Babangida stressed that people were playing politics with the murder of Giwa, adding that the Oputa panel was set up to rubbish him.
IBB, who was speaking through his counsel, Malam Yahaya Mahmood in
Kaduna, said: “We believe those playing politics with the murder of Dele Giwa know those who killed him and they are doing all they have been doing to divert attention. How come the explosion blew Giwa into pieces from the lower abdomen and left him in the pool of his own blood, while Kayode Soyinka escaped unhurt?’’
Five years after the court granted Babangida’s prayer, the Obasanjo government is set to appeal against that ruling. Aside the Oputa report, the government may revisit the Okigbo report on the Gulf Oil windfall which indicted Babangida of siphoning 12 billion dollars.“If government lawyers marshal their arguments logically, IBB will be convicted and that will put paid to his ambition,” a source explained.
But Godwin Daboh sees things differently. “Under President Obasanjo, there is greater corruption than when Babangida was in power. Nigeria was not listed among the most corrupt nations until Obasanjo became president in 1999. You will agree with me that by the year 2000, Nigeria was rated by Transparency International as the third most corrupt nation in the world. By 2002, we became the second most corrupt nation in the world,” Daboh argued.
On the notion that his annulment of MKO Abiola’s victory may scuttle
IBB’s march to power, Alex Akinyele thinks otherwise. He said the people of South West had forgiven the former ruler because, according to him, the decision to annul that election was supported by prominent Yorubas who were jealous of the rising profile of Abiola. “Babangida is the Pontius Pilate of the 21st Century. He did not want to annul the election because Abiola and IBB were very good friends. They dined together, they wined together and they did business together... But the SDP he which he belonged, the Obas, Emirs and the Khaki men did not want Abiola to be president because they believed if he was sworn-in, he would become another Colossus like Julius Caesar of Rome,” said Akinyele.
On the chances of Babangida in PDP, Akinyele said the party has lost focus and wondered why a serious politician like IBB would insist on being the party’s standard bearer. While assuring that IBB is the man to beat in 2007, the Ondo high chief stressed that the moment Vice President Atiku pulls out of PDP, it will be torn into shreds.
But will Babangida listen to Obasanjo?
It’s Nigerians buying Nigeria’s property. And it’s an organization that will be a good buy anyday. It will be a gold mine sooner or later. So, I think it’s a good thing that it’s sold to Transcorp. We just hope they will be able to turn it around.
Do you think the new owner has the capacity to turn around the fortune of the company?
The issue is that it’s not Transcorp that will come and work in NITEL. It’s a question of using human resources already there. We have capable hands in NITEL. The problem there is bureaucracy: when they have any project to carry out, it will first go to the Federal Executive Council for approval. Before it gets to the management it will take God knows how many days, weeks or months. And at the end of the day, the whole essence of the project is defeated. But now you have people that can take decision and implement the decision immediately. The people running Globacom and MTN are not superhuman beings. And it’s even workers from NITEL that helped to set up these new telecom companies. So, all the new owners need to do is motivate the staff on ground, orientate them to be customer-oriented. So, I see a future for NITEL in the hands of Transcorp. If outsiders had bought NITEL, they would have brought their people to do all these things. But now that the buyers are Nigerians, they will use Nigerians to do it. And the workers themselves are happy that they would have a breathing space to do what they know how to do better. So it’s not Transcorp that is coming to run NITEL. They bought NICON. Did you see any Transcorp man there as the steward or General Manager? They are using Nigerians. So, the same thing will happen in NITEL and Mtel.
So, you don’t expect them to sack any of the workers?
Definitely, they will choose who they want to work with. But we don’t want them to sack. NICON did not sack anybody in NICON-Hilton Hotel. They are people that know the worth of their brothers and know what is good for them. So, we are asking them to work with us. They should work with the unions. We have confidence in Transcorp.
Do you consider the $750 million paid by Transcorp for NITEL as appropriate?
I think it’s okay. What NITEL needs now is to make money for the Federal Government; the money to recapitalise it. Our concern now is what money Transcorp will pump into NITEL to make it a world class company and be able to compete against companies already on the ground. But even then, the price paid by Transcorp is far above $256 million bidded by Orascom. And you know what Pentascope did to NITEL between 2001 and now. So, I think it’s a good bargain.
TransCorp History
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc (TransCorp) was incorporated on 17 November 2004 in response to the need to establish a "Mega Corporation", "created" in Nigeria and owned by all Nigerians, which will respond to market opportunities that require heavy capital investment not just at home but in the sub-African region and around the world. TransCorp will be the vehicle to reposition Nigeria in Africa and the world, as a nation ready to compete in global markets. TransCorp is made up of Nigeria’s most influential business people and most successful businesses. Household names and the nation’s premier brands are all part of TransCorp
Vision and Mission
Our Vision is to create a globally competitive industrial conglomerate, which will supply World-class products and services to local and global markets Our Mission is to serve the Global Markets with premier products and services from World-Class production facilities based in Nigeria and managed by Nigerians TransCorp will reposition Nigeria in Africa and will reposition Africa to the rest of the World Imagine a Nigeria that supplies Markets in Angola, Zimbabwe and Botswana with consumer goods, provides the United States and Europe with refined petroleum products and supplies Energy to Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast. At the same time providing logistic and Information Technology support to Canada, Belgium and Argentina.
TransCorp is designed to meet six revenue centres, namely:
• Oil And Gas
• Agriculture And Agro Allied Business
• Information Technology
• Power
•International Trade
• Free Trade Zone/Industrial Park.
Transnational Oil and Gas will invest in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. The Transcorp Agriculture strategy is being built on the present administration’s agricultural policy. Transnational Technology will be set up to roll out solutions for industrial applications in inventory controls, shipping, production and supply chain management. It will also engage in commercial research and development facility for Corporate Nigeria and Africa.Transnational Power will build an independent power plant to supply residential and commercial residents in Nigeria, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Sao Tome, Gambia, Burkina Faso, etc. On the international trade arena, Transcorp aims at redirecting the main production facilities in China to meet Nigeria’s transfer prices and supply these markets. When successful, TransCorp will have a value chain of trade and investment built on the back of African consumers. This will also expand TransCorp’s ability to supply larger ex-African markets and achieve scale economies.
Government incentives
During its formal launch by President Obasanjo on 21 July, he announced some concessions granted the corporation as part of government’s support and encouragement. These include:
• Licence to build a 400,000 barrels per day refinery
• Licence to build an independent power plant
• Access to the federal government cassava report for the construction of a
cassava processing export facility
• Designated land mass for the construction of free port facilities
• Continued support to help open up markets on the African continent
• To make the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc a partner in Nigeria’s current policy on Private-Public partnership, creating additional opportunities to develop large-scale projects in oil and gas, power and ICT. TransCorp’s plans to transform business in Nigeria In line with its objectives, TransCorp has already begun to deliberately position itself to take hold of its promised future. In addition to the above projections,
• It has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited for the setting up of a refinery in Nigeria.
. It is assessing the value and integrity of the nation’s refineries to decide whether an acquisition in the on-going privatisation exercise would be necessary. • It plans to acquire the pipeline infrastructure of the Petroleum and Pipelines Marketing Company (PPMC) and to expand on that network to develop Africa’s largest network of pipelines for crude, refined products and petrol-chemicals.
• It expects to bid for oil blocs as well as provide world-class production facilities for holders of other blocks in need of the most modern technology in farming out crude oil.
• It also expects to participate in upstream activities, especially in the emerging deep offshore exploration and production business.
• TransCorp intends to use most of its funds for working capital to purchase goods in large quantities from Asia and then supply them to the West African sub regional markets. Transcorp’s Strategic Approach In the Short Term: TransCorp will focus its energy on rapid growth by acquisition through participation in the federal government’s Privatization Programme by acquiring and turning around these otherwise inefficiently managed public enterprises. TransCorp hopes to enhance their value, provide superior returns to shareholders as well as build a consolidated conglomerate of subsidiary companies operating in diverse industries. In addition, TransCorp will expand the frontiers of trade all over Africa, especially with those nations that have benefited from Nigeria’s peace-keeping and other intervention efforts as they embark on post-conflict reconstruction. Trade will foster our relations and it shall bring wealth to citizens of both nations.
In the Mid-Term: TransCorp will work assiduously to expand into industries that are presently the exclusive preserve of foreign-owned companies. This should not be the case. It is a challenge to Nigerian entrepreneurs and companies to enter the most lucrative sectors of our economies to bring real value. TransCorp will lead the way in this regard. We will recruit highly skilled Nigerian professionals from all across the world. We are confident that we will serve as the vehicle for a reverse brain drain. In this respect, TransCorp will take advantage of its ability to raise capital to build a Free Trade Zone of the kind and size that has never been seen in Africa. In addition, TransCorp will expand into upstream oil and gas business, provide industry inputs such as pipes, engage in the fabrication of equipment, facilities, chemicals and vessels. Indeed, we have big dreams and we believe that the first step to reaching these dreams begins with the faith that investors place in Transcorp with their capital.
In the Long Term: TransCorp will be fully established in the business-focus areas outlined in its Strategic Business Model. These areas are Information and Communications Technology (ICT); Oil & Gas/ Energy; and Hospitality and Trade. In the Long-Term, TransCorp would have expanded not around Africa,but also around the World, demonstrating in clear terms the ability of Nigeria to supply the world with goods and services that can compete with the best in the world in terms of quality. We will run with the best and the best will be compared to us. We will achieve that with your support and continued faith in the value we can and will deliver. Nigerians will recognize our investments because they will have the same over-riding quality; whether it is a turnaround company or a Greenfield project, our standards will be world-class. We are determined to achieve this in the products we make, the services we deliver, our citizenship in the communities we operate, and the way our corporation is governed.
These are the directors, who are also the founding fathers of TransCorp:
Dr. (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) since the year 2000. She is serving as the start-up Chairman of TransCorp. Okereke-Onyiuke was between 1976 and 1983 consultant to the New York Stock Exchange, Special Assistant to the Nigerian Permanent Mission in the UN (1973-1976) and later adjunct Professor, Finance Department, New York University. She also once served as Commercial Consultant, African American Institute.
Bernard Ojeifo Longe He was named the Group Managing Director of TransCorp in June 2006. Mr. Longe, who has over three and half decades of experience in banking and the real sector is a former Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria plc.
Nicholas Okoye Hitherto the Technical Adviser to the Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, he is the Group Executive Director of TransCorp, with responsibilities including group strategy, coordination and business development.
Festus Odimegwu CEO of Nigeria’s biggest brewer, Nigerian Breweries, Odimegwu is a product of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he bagged a first class in Chemistry. Odimegwu ruffled feathers with his strong support for the third term agenda of President Olusegun Obasanjo. For this, shareholders of Nigerian Breweries gave him a hair-dryer during its last Annual General Meeting, AGM, and he is believed to have been shoved aside from his high position in the organisation.
Aliko Dangote
President and CEO of the Dangote Group of Companies. Dangote believes firmly in wealth creation. A sugar and rice magnate, a major transporter, a former banker, an Insurance broker and a cement merchant, Aliko also recently made forays into the crude oil business. Aliko Dangote sits atop a flourishing business empire. Although he is barely 50, he sits strong in the old economy while making significant inroads in the new economy. He is widely connected within the business and political circles. He bought over Federal Government’s shares in Benue Cement Company, BCC. It is to Aliko’s credit that he successfully transformed a small trading business which he began in 1977 at the age of 21 to a multi-billion Naira business which now spans the West African sub-region. He maintains a domineering presence in consumables. He has built factories and established production plants across the country for various brands, from spaghetti, to cement, to salt, flour and sugar. His company is also into the production of Gum-Arabic which is used as adhesive. But that is not all, Dangote Group is also into textile production. He recently acquired majority shares in Savannah Sugar company in Adamawa. He is presently undertaking a simultaneous construction of three cement factories in Kogi, Cross River and Ogun states which on completion will make the country self-sufficient in cement production. His annual turnover, according to close sources, is the region of N150 billion. He was appointed a member of Nigeria Investment and Promotion Council by President Obasanjo. It will be recalled that, Dangote played a prominent role in the funding of Obasanjo’s re-election to which he contributed over N200 million. He was once touted as successor to President Obasanjo, whose election in 1999 he partly financed, but he has so far elected to stay out of politics. He is a lover of polo and is never scared of taking business risks. Dangote has remained very close to the president since then.
Jim Ovia
MD/CEO, Zenith International Bank Co-founder of and pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive of Zenith International Bank plc. Ovia is also a member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group and was the pioneer President of the Nigeria Internet Group. His bank provides services in private consumer and investment banking. Ovia has built his bank almost from nothing to become one of Nigeria’s most profitable banks in terms of asset size of N68 billion. The bank is also in the top four bracket in terms of its shareholders’ funds of N15.7 billion. Total assets and contingent liabilities are currently estimated at N215. 2 billion. With substantial interests in e-commerce and information technology, Zenith was the first Nigerian bank to appear on the Internet. He has led the way in delivering financial services electronically. Recently, Zenith Bank won Central Bank’s recognition and approval as one of the few settlement banks in the country. Industry watchers consider this a bold sign of the bank’s success. Ovia is the pioneer President of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), a non-governmental organisation. He has over 23 years of banking experience. He began is banking career in 1980 as a financial analyst with International Merchant Bank (IMB) in 1980. By 1987, he had risen to the management cadre. From IMB, he moved to Merchant Bank of Africa, where he was head of corporate banking between 1987 and 1990. He holds an MBA from University of Louisiana, and a Bachelor’s degree from Southern University, Louisiana. He is also an alumnus of Executive Education of Harvard University.
Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe He is the Managing Director & Chief Executive of First Bank of Nigeria plc, a pioneer institution in the Nigerian banking industry. He replaced Mr. Benard Longe after the IILL debacle of 2002 rocked the bank. Otunba Funso Lawal Chief Executive Officer of the Charterhouse Group, a Lagos-based consulting and financial advisory services group.
Femi Otedola
CEO, Zenon
He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, the company that is currently sitting at the commanding heights of the nation’s diesel and kerosene business. He is a firm believer in deregulation. He started Zenon about five years ago and within a short time seized control of the market. He is a pacesetter in the downstream sector, expanding the frontiers of competition. He once boasted that he wants to build an empire. From nowhere, Zenon is today rated among the top five companies in the country. In a recent interview, he said: "We are investing our money here, to create job opportunities for people. Nobody is going to take the money outside the country." Apart from being the biggest diesel and kerosene marketer in Nigeria today, he is said to be the biggest ship owner in the country, which partly explains his recent nomination as President of Nigeria Chambers of Shipping, a powerful and highly influential body in the maritime sector. The oil baron and shipping magnate also bought 100 brand new DAF trucks from Netherlands to strengthen his distribution arm. Zenon now boasts of a total storage capacity of more than 147,000 metric tonnes total holding of diesel, making it the biggest depot owner with the largest single storage capacity in the country. He is also the owner of Atlas Shipping Agency, Swift Insurance, FO Properties Limited, FO Transport and Seaforce Shipping Company Ltd. His appointment into the board of Nigeria Investment and Promotion Council, NIPC, observers believe, is the President’s vote of confidence on the young man’s business abilities. It is for this that he was also nominated by the President on the team of top Nigerian businessmen to go on an investment drive to South Africa. They essentially met and interacted with the South African business community and the South African President, Thabo Mbeki. On his part, Otedola contributed well over N100 million to President Obasanjo’s re-election expenses. Though little was known about him some years back, Otedola is today one of the richest Nigerians. He recently bought a pad in London for 17 million pounds. He owes his wealth largely to his chummy relationship with the President.
Tony Elumelu
He is the pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive of the former Standard Trust Bank plc which recently merged with United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc. Tony is currently the Managing Director of the enlarged UBA Group, arguably the largest bank in Nigeria.
Tony Ezenna
The Chief Executive Officer of Orange Drugs, a dominant player in the pharmaceutical business in Nigeria.
Adegboyega Olulade He was at various times the Head of Capital and Money Market of Farida Investment and Securities Limited. He is presently the chairman of many companies.
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