Flashback: Mike Adenuga Is Not A Poor Nigerian Billionaire, His Reps Say

This post was written by Mfonobong Nsehe on 14 March 2011

Lagos, Nigeria — It was past 12 noon on a hot Thursday afternoon, and I hurried to the Mike Adenuga Towers- the imposing 13-story skyscraper located at the elite Victoria Island area of Lagos. The landmark building serves as the seat of power for Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s newly minted billionaire. 

Mike Adenuga Tower

The Forbes 2011 Billionaires’ list had been published just a day before and I had received an invitation from the corporate communications department of Globacom Limited, one of Adenuga’s companies, to discuss the mogul’s ranking on the list. Apparently, most of his employees who had seen the list were less than impressed with the rank of 595 their boss occupies. I met with a couple of his communications staff, a lady and a middle-aged gentleman.

“Ah, so you are one of the Forbes people, eh?” She asked, jokingly. “You guys have made Mike Adenuga look so poor. So you think he is worth only $2 billion. Are you kidding me? That’s chicken change for him. How can [Aliko] Dangote (Nigeria’s richest man) be worth $13 billion and Adenuga is worth only $2 billion? That’s not even possible. He is not that poor. Mike Adenuga is as rich as Dangote. I swear! I can bet you that Mike Adenuga is worth at least $10 or $15 billion. I assure you,” she said, all at once.

All I could do was laugh heartily and assure her that I believed her.

Then the man spoke:

“Mike Adenuga cannot be worth only $2 billion. You guys need to check your facts again. I don’t know how you came across that figure but I can assure you that you got it wrong. Mike Adenuga should be worth at least $10 billion. Do you know how much Globacom is worth?”

‘How much?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “but I know it’s worth over $20 billion,” he replied.

As I asked him for the rationale behind the valuation, he explained: “Globacom has 20 million subscribers- almost as much as MTN [another wireless carrier] does. MTN is worth $30 billion. Mike Adenuga owns Globacom. How can he be worth only $2 billion? It is not possible. Have you forgotten that he also owns Equatorial Trust Bank- Nigeria’s largest privately held bank? Don’t you know that he owns Conoil Producing- Nigeria’s first indigenous Oil exploration company? Do you know that he owns the highest stake in Conoil Marketing? $2 billion is too small. If Mike Adenuga is poor, he’s worth at least $5 billion. You people should increase his net worth” he said to me, pleadingly, like I even had the power.

Adenuga Mansion in Banana Island, Lagos

“Forbes has underrated Adenuga. You should have an interview with him,” he concluded. We can let you have an interview with Dr. Adenuga. Write a letter of intent and give it to our boss and I’m sure we can arrange something,’ he said. 

“For a person like Mike Adenuga, $2 billion is poor. If you get an interview with Adenuga, he might tell you his real net worth.”

I’ve written the request letter to speak to Dr. Mike Adenuga. I’ll submit it next week. He might eventually call sometime and tell me how much he is worth. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe Mike Adenuga is not as poor as $2 billion.

-Mfonobong Nsehe writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

Editor’s note: A reporter for Forbes did try to contact Adenuga’s staff to obtain detailed information about his assets, but Adenuga’s staff did not respond.