Mike Adenuga

He is the quintessential leader with an unimaginable capacity to ride above the storm of the past and reset his relationships with people when he felt the need to do so. Severally, he has recalled or reabsorbed former members of staff who left in the most dramatic circumstances. Some came back voluntarily while he himself reached out to others. For him, it is not about the sentiment but the value the individual has to offer. Yet, there were exceptional instances when he reabsorbed people mainly because he pitied their prevailing circumstances. He epitomizes the deep Yoruba axiom that, “ti a o ba gbagbe oro ana, a o ni ri eni ba sere”, meaning that one needs to banish past disputes into distant memories in order to continually have people to play (or work) with.

A couple of years back, Dr. Adenuga shared with me the rationale behind some of his actions. He said at the end of the day when everyone would have retired to their respective homes, he would play back the events of the day in his mind and ask himself hard questions, “Am I fair to him/her? Was he/she fair to me?” He said this was a routine he regularly observed in order to set matters right.

Whoever knows Dr. Adenuga would readily concur that he is a genius who has a memory as sharp as a tack. He only needs to meet you once and if he sees you years later, he would recall every detail about you. When he uploads you with various assignments, you would only have yourself to blame to think he has forgotten any of them. Don’t be shocked if you get a call from his office asking you for an update. That alone is triple-filtered trouble. Chairman wants you to be ahead of him. He will spare no rod if he is always the one “chasing after you” for results. In one of his informal mentoring classes, Dr. Adenuga told me that, “Never rely exclusively on human memory. No matter how sharp, it fails sometimes. As often as possible, once I’m giving someone an assignment, I’m writing it down and posting it somewhere as a stark reminder until the job is done”.

In his heart, Adenuga has selected some people as his circle of brothers, friends and family. He has taken it upon himself to sort such people out in life. At intervals, he reaches out and takes care of them in a “life-liberating manner” as a popular writer who later joined politics once described his unconventional generous disposition. In that circle are family members, friends, former Presidents within and outside Nigeria, celebrities, traditional rulers, some members of staff and a mixed grill of other people decided exclusively based on his own parametres. This often includes indigent people or people totally unknown to him but who are in dire straits. From the blues (as he did severally), Chairman once called me to find out how a media personality who had been supportive in the past was doing. When I enquired and reverted to him that the person was going through a rough patch, he got his office to send the person a ‘hefty’ cheque in the hope that it would help the person to “fill some holes”. He sets his standards high and abides by the standards no matter whose ox is gored. He hardly attends functions. His priorities have always been his business and in later years, he has opted to strike more delicate balance between business and family.

You will never see Dr. Adenuga confronting government even when he has enough reasons to fight. His philosophy is that Nigerian governments are too powerful. As such, any businessman who has too much at stake can only fight a sitting government at his peril. Intrinsically, he has internalized that profound saying amplified by King Sunny Ade’s song, “Ojo ni wa a o b’enikan s’ota, eni eji ri leji n pa (we are raindrops, we bear no grudge against anyone, rain falls on everyone). He is friendly with any government of the day. Much more importantly, he minds his own business. He also has an almost unimpeachable understanding of the political and business terrains of Africa. He has friends in high places across the continent.

In business, Chairman adopted the famous Michelle Obama philosophy of when they go low, we go high to his investment in oil and gas. About three years ago, the price of oil headed for a free fall in the international market. Discouraged, many big players stopped investing. Several oil rigs which hitheto were hard to come by became readily available. He wasted no time to strike when the iron was red hot, pumping millions of dollars into the business to develop oil fields allotted his company. The gold digger made the right choice. From the $20s per barrel in 2016, the price of oil is now inching nearer the $80 mark in 2018. Talk about vision, wisdom and pressing the hot button at the right moment.

For over two and half decades, Dr. Adenuga has been digging gold in oil and gas, telecoms, banking, construction and in the process has become the real McCoy, the real deal. In numerous instances, he has made unimaginable successes while on few occasions, things didn’t go quite as well as planned. A man of immense resources and extensive knowledge, he is also ready to admit that he does not know it all. As an imperfect creation, he knows he is not without blemish. He draws substantially from the lessons of his triumphs and shortcomings to shape his actions. As he marks his 65th birthday, one can only wish Dr. Adenuga many happy returns.

• Olabode Opeseitan is the Founding Partner of SA&B Mega Resources.