1 In May 2021 , NNPC went into marriage with DR by proposing to acquire 20% equity in DR.
2 Early 2024, NNPC promised to supply crude to DR
3 In July 2024, Alhaji Aliko Dangote (AAD) alerted the public that NNPC did not own 20% but 7.2%
4 In July 2024 AAD accused government of importing bad fuel into the country and that OICs and internal forces are bent on sabotaging him
5 A week later NNPC fired back that DR is not licensed and its fuel is inferior to the imported one.
6 Hell broke loose. Those who have beef with AAD on account of his AGIP (Any Government in Power policy) lined up behind the government. And those who hates NNPC are now social media warriors for AAD
7 What lessons can we learn?
1 AAD can not complain about the system now, perspective, intelligent people will not take him serious. Why? The system has served him well in the last 30 years, the system makes him to emerge the richest African alive. AAD is a one man cabal himself.
2 But like DAEWOO in South Korea and late MKO Abiola, you can be 99% correct in your political calculations, It doesn’t matter. But the day you are 1% wrong politically, the financial empire built through political connections and manipulation faces existential threats.
DAEWOO at his peak of his financial success had 420 products, the richest South Korean ( read: Every Streets Paved with Gold – An Autobiography of DAEWOO), but one wrong political move sent DAEWOO to jail where he expired. MKO story is still fresh. He was the most successful business personality of his time, just one wrong political move, he ended up in prison where he expired.
3 It is a high stakes, do or die Game: no allowance for mistakes, sorry is not accepted, It is a dog-eat-dog, winners-take-all game
Till tomorrow nobody will know the whole TRUTH of what went wrong between MKO and IBB. The rule is to go to heaven with the truth
4 But while trying to connect the dots, I came to the conclusion that between NNPC and their hitherto best friend and business partner: Things have fallen apart and the falcons can no longer hear the falconers
Unfortunately, we can not get the whole TRUTH from both of them.
This is a big lesson: It is dangerous when you have a business that is government-dependent, even though the easiest way in the developing countries to make MEGA money (the type that can put you on the FORBES list) is through government patronage which can come in form of getting concessions, FX allocation preferential treatment, monopoly, direct printing of money by CBN and sharing of same among the Elites, e g. Emefiele allegedly printed N30 trillion and 85% could not be accounted for or traced to national projects according to the CBN Auditor.
5 Where do we go From here? AAD knows the truth, he should sit down with his business partners (NNPC) and resolve the resolvable issues for the sake of Nigeria who needs cheap fuel badly.
6 What will work in the ultimate analysis is for AAD to do what Bill Gates did when he was faced with similar huge opposition that threatened his survival: Bill Gates divested from Microsoft – retains 5% of Microsoft and took his cash to electricity and health business. Immediately, peace came to Bill Gates and oppositions looked for another OCTOPUS corporation (Google) to interrogate. It is the way the world runs, once the *wealth of the nation resides in your house as your guest, peace eludes you*
7 On October 24 2021, Ali Baba disappeared from the public view for about 6 months and when he responded, he did the needful. He restructured his business empire which is in Trillion of dollars and he became a university professor and peace came to him
Therefore, If I meet AAD today I will remind him of this wise words from Jack Ma, China’s richest man : *To get rich is glorious, but among the richest men in China, only a few have good endings*
