Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr, GCON is a Nigerian billionaire business man, and the second-richest person in Nigeria was born 29 April 1953.
His company Globacom is Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator, and has a presence in Ghana and Benin. He owns stakes in the Equitorial Trust Bank and the oil exploration firm Conoil (formerly Consolidated Oil Company). Forbes has estimated his net worth at $5.8 billion as of 2017, which makes him the second-wealthiest Nigerian behind Aliko Dangote, with a net worth of $14.1 billion.
Early life and Education
His father, the Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr, was a school teacher while his mother, Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile, of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo), was a business woman of royal Ijebu descent.
Adenuga received his secondary school education at Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan, and Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, for his Higher School Certificate (HSC). He worked as a taxi driver to help fund his university education abroad and he graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York, with degrees in Business Administration.
His Career
In 1990, he got a drilling license and in 1991, his Consolidated Oil struck oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State, the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity.
He was issued a conditional GSM licence in 1999; after it was revoked he received a second one when the government held another auction in 2003. His telecom company Globacom spread quickly and started challenging the giant MTN Group. The man Adenuga received award from Silver Bird for being the first to launch the Nigerian telecom into per seconds billing.
It launched services in Benin in 2008, and has continued to grow and spread across Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, with more licences currently being prospected in other West African countries.
He was named African Entrepreneur of The Year at the first African Telecoms Awards (ATA) in August 2007. In 2009, Adenuga was detained for money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
He subsequently left the country took refuge in London until the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua regime granted him a pardon.
In May 2015, Adenuga made a takeover bid to purchase Ivorian mobile telecom’s operator Comium Côte d’Ivoire for $600 million.
In June 2016, it was revealed that Adenuga was being pursued for a combined debt of US$140.5 million, after his company ConOil failed to pay debts owed to, among others, the French oil giant Total. Bellbop, another company owned by Adenuga, had an interim injunction placed on it by the High Court in Lagos, after it too failed to pay the $9.4 million owed to the US oil and gas firm Baker Hughes.
Honours
In 2012, he received one of the highest honour of Grand Commander of the Order of Niger by the government of Nigeria. He also holds a Yoruba tribal chieftaincy title an Otunba of the Ijebu land.
- Adenuga, Nigeria’s second richest man, built his fortune in telecom and oil production.
- His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the second largest operator in Nigeria, with 37 million subscribers.
- His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
- Adenuga got an MBA at Pace University in New York, supporting himself as a student by working as a taxi driver.
- He made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks.
- He is currently resident in Banana Island, Ikoyi Lagos.
- He is married with seven children.
His Net Worth
Adenuga’s real time net worth is placed at about $5 Billion and second richest in Nigeria as of now.