Globacom Chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga Jr is 68 today. Anybody familiar with the story of Nigeria’s telecoms industry cannot but salute his doggedness even when very few gave him a chance at the beginning of his adventure. In an environment that has become suffocating for entrepreneurship, where industry is no longer encouraged by government’s penchant to create bubble jobs that can only worsen our economic problems in the long run, we need to interrogate the value of men like Adenuga.
During the GSM license bid round in 2001, there was an attempt to muscle out Adenuga. The then NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Ernest Ndukwe was very fair and transparent in the manner he handled the exercise. But powerful forces within the political establishment were bent on frustrating Adenuga from securing a telecoms license. Persuaded that we need Nigerian players in the sector, I argued in a few columns that since Adenuga had expressed interest, he ought to receive a license.
The conversation that followed the attack was interesting. Although Obasanjo gave the official version of the account as to why Adenuga missed out on the licensing round, it appeared to me that there might be a personal issue between them. A dogged fighter, Adenuga refused to give up. He eventually secured the license in August 2003. And he changed the game with per second billing, which the more established companies had said was impossible but were then forced to adopt.
I know from my experience in government that Nigerian big men like to obtain these special licenses and permits in order to sell them. Many prefer to be commission agents and middle men who add little or no value to the economy. That is why we have so many idle billionaires with no real source of livelihood. And as I have also pointed out in the past, most of them employ no more than drivers, cooks, stewards etc.
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