Glo is pride of Africa says Olatokunbo, shareholder activist

.Hails Adenuga at 67

COMFORT EKELEME, Asst. Business Editor.

A shareholder activist, Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo has described the chairman of Globacom Limited, Otunba Mike Adenuga Jr who clocks 67 on Wednesday April 29 as a good and patriotic Nigerian.

He said, “We thank God for giving us the likes of Mike Adenuga because it was the entry of Globacom that made it possible for millions of ordinary Nigerians to own Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) telephone and it was the company’s presence that saved millions of Nigerians from the robbery of no per second charges by the then Econet (now Airtel) and MTN Nigeria Limited”.

Globacom Limited established by Dr. Adenuga  Jr in 2003 has a subscribers’ base of over 51million as at the end of January 2020.

He recalled that the two telecommunication companies were ready to kill Nigerians with high tariffs on calls of less than a minute, which they insisted then must cost N50 per call.

According to him, consumers were ready to go to court to challenge their propaganda that it was not possible to charge per second, adding that the entry of Globacom into the sector changed that narrative and made the difference.

He said: “We thank God that Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr is a good and patriotic Nigerian, our messiah that saved us from the jaws of sharks known as MTN and Econet. Glo also became the second national carrier and grand master of data, thanks for being a Nigerian company.

“Right from inception, Glo signal were everywhere in Nigeria and extended to the sub -Sahara West Africa. Your Nigerian global network will work in neighbouring countries because we learnt that Glo had the most modern telecommunication equipment in Africa”.

Speaking on the economic impact, he said, Glo was introduced with a lot of welfare packages that encouraged patronage of middle-class businesses and that of low- income earners to do business as agents/distributors of Glo products.

“Glo was the first network that introduced low amount of credit-cards for their subscribers tagged ‘Buy & Pay Later’, in order to encourage low-income earners to have GSM-phone which in return assisted many businesses to grow and it was the only one in the sector.  Glo came with human face”, he added.

He said one of the major advantages of the Glo initiative over other telecommunications companies was that investment decisions were fast and in favour of Nigeria and Nigerians.

According to him, “Since the global headquarters resides in Nigeria, Glo really invested in the future of Nigeria long before others thought of the direction telecommunications industry is going in Nigeria. The GLO WORLD started in Nigeria and it’s in almost every part of sub -Sahara Africa. The investment of Glo in Nigeria is second to none in the industry despite the delay in granting Glo the necessary licence by the then federal government. Glo is today the pride of every Nigerian and Africa in general”.

Meanwhile, the activist has congratulated the business mogul on his 67^th birthday.

Born 29 April 1953 to Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr, who was a school teacher and Omoba (Princess) Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile, of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo), in Ogun State, a businesswoman of royal Ijebu descent, Adenuga attended Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan, in Oyo State and Comprehensive High School, Aiyetoro, in Ogun State for his Higher School Certificate (HSC).

However, his hunt  for higher education and the proverbial greener pasture saw him leaving the shores of Nigeria for the United States of America, USA. As a student there, it is on record that he worked as a taxi driver to help fund his university education. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York, with degrees in Business Administration. And upon his return to his fatherland, he joined the unpredictable world of business where he has towered among his peers to the satisfaction of many.

His blossoming career, one recalls, started in 1990, when he received a drilling license from the regime of then military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Subsequently, his Consolidated Oil company struck oil in the waters of Ondo State, in the South West geo-political zone, which was the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity in 1991.

Also, he owns the Mike Adenuga Group of companies comprising former Equitorial Trust Bank, Cobblestone Properties and Estates, a real estate and property development company, Conoil PLC, petroleum marketing company, and Conoil Producing, a crude exploration and production firm.

But it is in the telecommunications sector that perhaps, the business mogul has made the greatest impact. In 1999, he was issued a conditional Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network license which was later revoked. He received a second license when the government held another auction in 2003.

Having done his homework properly, his telecom company Globacom (Glo) hit the ground running spreading rapidly and started challenging the dominance of South African giant MTN Group in the Nigerian market.

Globacom Limited founded on 29 August 2003 by Adenuga in no time came up with revolutionary services including per second billing which Nigerian subscribers were initially told by the first two entrants in the sector MTN and Econet (now Airtel) was impossible, a situation they endured for two years.

Yet, that singular innovation by Glo immediately endeared the company to the heart of subscribers who in turn embraced it whole heartedly through massive patronage.

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