Category: Society

Success is not served on a platter, those who are hungry for success leave their comfort zone to snatch it. This simply sums up the story of billionaire business magnate Alhaji Dahiru Mangal whose business investment extends to a different pie like real estate, construction, oil and gas, aviation, and hospitality. As a young man, he was said to have shown traits of greatness with his drive to survive despite things not being rosy. Mangal remained focused as he had the true picture of what he wanted to achieve in life so he chased his dreams with much gusto. Today with a wealth spanning over $ 2 billion, Mangal is still working round the clock to sustain his wealth and also build a conglomerate that will outlive him. Mangal believes strongly in investing in friendship and sustaining relationships and this has helped him in his sojourn to the top as he currently has a smooth relationship with movers and shakers of Nigeria. If Mangal coughs the foundation of the country feels it that’s how influential he is. This availed President Buhari to confer on him a national merit award as the Commander of the Order of Niger CON a few months ago.

Read Also: Messi’s trophy photos become most liked Instagram post in history

 The Katsina State-born money bag’s story resonates with the average Nigerian youth who is struggling but has hope that their story will turn to glory. His story teaches long-suffering and the ability to see beyond your imagination. Being a truck driver to being a multi-billionaire is enough to teach that anyone who is focused can be something from nothing. He stands as a role model to upcoming entrepreneurs. For students who want to bag a degree in business-related courses; a sit-out with Mangal will avail you information strong enough to score distinction in any thesis because he has seen it all and he has weathered the storm in business so his experience is enough to write an award-winning textbook in business success.

 The head honcho of Max air is known as a generous giver, who does not blink an eye when it comes to giving. According to the teachings of Islam which harp on Zakat, Mangal has donated proceeds from his business to charity. He has often said he inherited the trait of giving from his parents. Many students in the country have benefited from his scholarship scheme and many out-of-school children have been given a lifeline via his educational scheme. Sources say Mangal industries limited in collaboration with a Chinese firm is currently constructing a 3 million metric tons per year cement plant in Kogi State. The project is slated to be completed in 2024 at a total cost of $600 million which will contribute to the decline in cement prices in Nigeria.

It’s very hard to find women who will stand shoulder to shoulder and thrive excellently well in a male-dominated world and industry but for some women, who are fearless and audacious, Uju Ifejika ranks high as she is an embodiment of a woman with valour. Poise and glamour radiate around her just as she has exhibited a high cerebral prowess which has helped sustain her place as one of the most influential women in the oil and gas sector. The head honcho of Brittania-U Nigeria Limited is not moved by frivolities but one thing that has always worked for her is her ability to guide and protect the reputation she has built over the years, more reason she has stayed off controversies. She is very influential and well-connected but she always lived a modest life devoid of attention.

Read Also: Influence governance by participating in politics, Adelabu tells Nigerians

 The trained lawyer is a believer in hard work. As a result of this, she has given her life to working and staying highflying. Today, she serves as a model to women across the country, most especially aspiring entrepreneurs. Over the week, she was inaugurated to head the 16-man panel of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s Anambra state oil and gas development committee. With her wealth of experience in the sector, she would spearhead the reform in the oil and gas sector in Anambra state and also bring about means the industry can further bring funds into the purse of the government thereby increasing government-generated revenue. In the same vein, the board of The African Leadership Organization, publishers of African Leadership Magazine has nominated her at the 11th African Leadership Magazine Persons of the year 2022 for the category of African Female Leader of the Year 2022 alongside heavyweights like; Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia, H.E. Jewel Taylor, Vice President of Liberia and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General, World Trade Organization.

Those who are not close to Dr. Pearl Chidinma Ogbulu, the Erelu Okin of Orile-Kemta in Ogun State would readily conclude that she is a controversial person. Especially during her installation party last year when she was in the news for sharing Premium Motor Spirit PMS at her party to her guests during fuel scarcity. The story generated mixed reactions but the stylish and youthful chief took the blame and apologized for what might have happened. Ever since then she has been a cynosure of eyes which earned her the moniker “Erelu Petrol”. She is a woman blessed with a heart of Gold. For her love for education through the Erelu Okin Foundation, she visited Muslim Grammar School, Ede, Osun State, where she provided all the kids with brand new school kits, and ensured children roaming the streets were registered in school. She has also sunk boreholes in Ogun State to give portable water to remote areas.

For her relentless contribution to the upstream oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy and her efforts in fashion, the Governing Council of European American University, Republic of Panama, and the African Regional Operations Conferred her Honorary Doctorate of Arts (D. Arts) in Fashion Development and Petroleum Management, honoris causa.

 The Abia State-born businesswoman recently received a special acknowledgment and certificate of honorary citizenship from the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, for her humanitarian efforts in Nigeria, during a recent visit to the United States of America. In a letter dated Wednesday, November 30, signed by the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Ras J. Baraka, Erelu Okin was acknowledged as one of Nigeria’s great humanitarians, supporting education projects for children, assisting widows, orphans, and differently-abled persons.

Highly influential Alhaji Nasiru Haladu Danu is the Chairman/CEO of Casiva Limited. He enjoys tremendous goodwill leveraging on his untainted and unblemished trusted character and has over the years proved that hard work truly pays. The consummate businessman, who is a stickler for success, knows the oil and gas terrain like the back of his hand. This is the more reason he has flourished immensely and today he is being celebrated for his tenacity and his doggedness despite every attempt to taint the solid reputation he built for years. Today, he is not only reaping bountifully what he sowed in tears, he is currently on top of his game in business and politics as a top member of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC as a functional member of the Presidential Campaign Council.

 On many occasions, the Chairman of Lubrik Construction has tried to stay away from the media space but his impact on people around him has often thrown him into public consciousness. During his wedding ceremony to his pretty wife; in December 2017 in Abuja, it was a gathering of the who is who in Nigeria as the whole of Abuja was shut down as A-list guests flew into Abuja causing air traffic and road traffic. Also during his turbaning as Dan Amana Dutse Dutse Emirate in Jigawa State in 2017, and Tafida Babba of Daura, Katsina State 2022, he was honoured by a large number of eminent personalities in the country as several dignitaries witnessed the beautiful ceremony.

 For his love for philanthropy, and provision of free health care for the downtrodden in Dutse, Jigawa State capital, via his Nasiru Haladu Danu Medical Mission Foundation catered for about 5,000 people, including men, women, and children received medical attention from American medical specialists at his expense. Sources say; the shrewd business had a very interesting and impactful year as his business dealings recorded a massive boost. It was gathered that he sealed mouth-watery business deals in the oil and gas and construction sector during this year’s United Nations General Assembly Session in NewYork. Alhaji Nasiru met with world leaders who he pitched investing in Nigeria’s Oil and gas terrain. Sources say his presence on the sidelines created a robust boost for Nigeria as he met with business communities and investors who will be investing in Nigeria to create jobs and also boost the production of crude oil.

Highly cosmopolitan and urbane Nigeria Port Authority NPA Managing Director, Mohammed Bello Koko has been around for quite a long time as an experienced finance and economics expert with vast knowledge in several strategic portfolios including Banking operations, Credit-Risk Management, Treasury Operations, Retail Banking and Corporate Marketing. With vast experience, he was in charge of the Energy sector and Public Sector, responsible for managing accounts of several multinational oil and Gas companies and maintaining Public sector relationships during his time in the corporate sector.

Koko became a shining star in the banking firmament when he joined Zenith International Bank Plc in 2005. While he was in the bank, his growth was astronomical. He was able to climb the ladder of success from a Branch head, Zonal Head Public Sector, Deputy General Manager and Zonal Head laying a solid precedent for those behind him. With his robust background in the banking sector and corporate finance, the Management Studies graduate from the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto was rewarded with an appointment in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari as Executive Director of Finance and Administration of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). After performing excellently well, he was appointed in May 2021 as Acting Managing Director of the agency after his successor was suspended.

Read Also: Amina Mohammed’s joyful moment

Since he assumed as the head honcho of the agency, the growth recorded has been tremendous. The public leadership graduate from Harvard Kennedy School, USA, infused a different touch to the way things are being done which led to his confirmation by President Buhari on the 15th of February 2022. A source disclosed that; “Under his watch, he displayed his magic wand by securing leakages in generated revenue which lead to a spike in the growth of the Agency’s Internally Generated Revenue. He also ensured improvement in operational efficiencies that led to a significant increase in container traffic to Onne Port, Warri, Calabar and Rivers port respectively to ease the congestion at the Apapa port. He also sought private partnerships to ensure drivers in the growth of the agency as he is also contributing excellently well to the growth of host communities through empowerment and philanthropy.”

His Majesty, the Akarigbo of Remo Land, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi is happy and currently over the moon. His joy knows no bounds as he feels like climbing the mountain top to shout and give his creator thanks for sparing his life to slide into the leaves of sexagenarian clocking age 60 and also celebrate his fifth coronation anniversary. Since he ascended the highly revered throne on Remo land, he has shown great capacity and ensured things are run smoothly traditionally. He has also unified the sons and daughters of Remo land to ensure they constantly come home and invest to make Remo land great.

On December 5 at his private residence in Sagamu, friends and family converged to host and celebrate the monarch for his 60th birthday and fifth year coronation anniversary as it was an array of celebration and felicitation by prominent sons and daughters of Remo land. The occasion of his birthday was marked with tasteful meals and drinks as the birthday boy received gifts and cut his gigantic birthday cake in a celebration mood. The Chairman of the Ogun State council of Oba was also hosted to a surprise birthday breakfast by collective club members of Sagamu where he was feted and celebrated where good things were said about him. To crown his birthday, a mega celebration event was held in his honour at the Gateway Stadium Sagamu on Wednesday, December 7 with top politicians, monarch’s, friends and well-wishers in attendance. There was a cultural display and parades from schools, Social clubs, and also from security operatives across the state who came to pay homage and wish the Akarigbo of Remo a long life.

Read Also: Sola Sobowale, Kanayo O Kanayo, Yinka Quadri feature in Double Dekoi

is Majesty, the Akarigbo of Remo Land, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi is happy and currently over the moon. His joy knows no bounds as he feels like climbing the mountain top to shout and give his creator thanks for sparing his life to slide into the leaves of sexagenarian clocking age 60 and also celebrate his fifth coronation anniversary. Since he ascended the highly revered throne on Remo land, he has shown great capacity and ensured things are run smoothly traditionally. He has also unified the sons and daughters of Remo land to ensure they constantly come home and invest to make Remo land great.

On December 5 at his private residence in Sagamu, friends and family converged to host and celebrate the monarch for his 60th birthday and fifth year coronation anniversary as it was an array of celebration and felicitation by prominent sons and daughters of Remo land. The occasion of his birthday was marked with tasteful meals and drinks as the birthday boy received gifts and cut his gigantic birthday cake in a celebration mood. The Chairman of the Ogun State council of Oba was also hosted to a surprise birthday breakfast by collective club members of Sagamu where he was feted and celebrated where good things were said about him. To crown his birthday, a mega celebration event was held in his honour at the Gateway Stadium Sagamu on Wednesday, December 7 with top politicians, monarch’s, friends and well-wishers in attendance. There was a cultural display and parades from schools, Social clubs, and also from security operatives across the state who came to pay homage and wish the Akarigbo of Remo a long life.

In the African business space, Abdulsamad Rabiu, the founder of BUA groups holds a special space most especially for his distinct will to put Nigeria and Africa on the world map as a destination for investment and also create wealth and sharing prosperity for those who come in contact with him. All his life he has lived it for people. As a fulfilled billionaire rated by Forbes, he has dedicated proceeds from his business by investing in Education, healthcare, Human development and empowerment. Apart from coming under the tutelage of his father who was also a well-known trader during his time he was also said to have learnt the art of giving and today he is a dangerous giver who does not blink an eye in ensuring what he has gone around for the upliftment of humanity.

Read Also: Honours for BUA’s Rabiu

Since the beginning of the year, Abdulsamad was said to have started on a high note ensuring he makes some business decisions that will further stretch his net worth and also sustain his business empire. We gathered all the goals he achieved before the end of the year. With sugar and cement factories launched this year, Samad has shown the world that sustaining a business empire is not by sheer luck but by sheer dint of hard work, resilience and taking the right business decision being able to navigate against the tides during turbulent times. For his kind gestures and for always putting Nigeria on the winning side, he was earlier this year by President Buhari’s administration conferred with a national title as the Commander of the order of the Federal Republic CFR, Nigeria Productivity Award, Nigeria Excellence award in philanthropy and intervention in education also last weekend in Sokoto, Samad was awarded by the Nigeria military through President Buhari in recognition for his support to the nation’s military arm through his AbdulSamad Rabiu Africa initiative ASR for investing in security.

As the year runs out, Forbes also announced that his fortune has moved to $7 billion which means his net worth has increased from $4.4 billion earlier in 2022 which means he moved $2.6 billion up closing the rank to being Africa’s richest man. Sources say the Kano-born billionaire is not relenting in the coming year as his target is to become the biggest philanthropist and single donor in education across Africa and also his business conglomerate should span across countries across Africa and the world by extension.

Since her appointment in January 2017 as Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, has always been consistently shining her light which played a pivotal role in her astronomic rise in her career as a public servant, technocrat and boardroom guru. She has been a leading voice in the fight against underdevelopment in Nigeria and Africa by extension; campaigning vigorously against illiteracy, hunger, and other vices affecting the flourishing of Africa using the sustainable development goal as bait to salvage the impending situation of underdevelopment in Africa and the world at large.

When it comes to world politics and policymaking, the mother of six is not a greenhorn based on her antecedent acting in various capacities; performing excellently well. As Task Force on Gender and Education for the United Nations Millennium Project, Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) later as the Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 development planning, she never failed to display her highly cerebral prowess and coordination dexterity representing Nigeria on the world stage with much pride.

Read Also: FUOYE students involved in stampede at examination centre

Last weekend, she locked down the city of Abuja as she gave out the hands of one of her daughters in marriage. The wedding, which had top Nigerian, foreign national, United Nations officials and other ambassadors was held at the well-decorated International conference centre ICC on Saturday December 3. Her daughter, Iman, walked down the aisle with her heartthrob Mubarak Olapade at a grand wedding soiree. The bride’s mother Amina was in an elated mood as she was seen happy and excited being a proud mother. The groom Mubarak is the head honcho of Gram Groups and the Co-founder of Severnature. He also studied Entrepreneurship Studies at the University of Sheffield. At the Wedding, Amina didn’t fail to show her dance moves as she went emotionally seeing her lovely daughter transit from spinsterhood to a wife.

Forbes rated billionaire and IT bizman, Leo Stan Ekeh connotes the description of the proverbial goldfish that has no hiding place in the water, his achievement in business, most especially in the ICT sector cannot be overlooked. With his Zinox ICT business conglomerate, he single-handedly led a digital revolution in Nigeria. Despite being a near perfectionist, he often brings the best out of those around him with his unrivaled sterling leadership qualities. A brilliant businessman extraordinaire, anything he touches turns into gold.

To affirm his midas touch, when the generous philanthropist money bag acquired Konga, a dwindling E-commerce site, over 4 years ago, his competitors were jittery over the acquisition. The reason is not far-fetched, as they know his capacity coupled with his wealth of knowledge in business will turn the fortune of the company around.

Blessed with the proverbial magic touch, he successfully merged the company with Yudala and transformed it from its former declining state to a flourishing one, which has now become a brand to reckon with in the sector. Weeks ago to display his magic wand, Amazon Ring appointed Ashour Corporation FZE, a Dubai-based company with a majority stake by Ekeh, as the authorized distributor of Amazon Bell products in West Africa.

Ekeh is dedicated to raising a giant in the IT sector by sharing his experience and thoughts via a pet Project where he organized a virtual mentorship of budding African entrepreneurs and postgraduate scholars drawn from select foreign universities across the world. As part of efforts to empower budding entrepreneurs, 12 lucky shoppers on Konga will be hosted to an all-expenses paid weekend free mentorship programme, an initiative of Konga Kares, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of the Konga Group. Sources say beneficiaries will be selected randomly, although shoppers who have a higher frequency or volume of purchases on Konga stand a better chance of being selected for the much-anticipated mentorship programme.

In December 7, 2015, the ancient Ile-Ife received a new dawn of the day as the HIM Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II ascended the throne of his forebearer as the 51st Oonirsha.

When he was handed the staff of office as the spiritual head of the Yoruba race, it came with lots of criticism from naysayers and those who had an interest in the stool and those who jostled for the throne with him how can a youthful person at just 41-year-old steer the ship of a very cosmopolitan Yoruba race.

Different tongues started to wag and different campaign of calumny took over the media but Ooni Adeyeye stayed strong, used his native intelligence and harnessed all warring factions by extending an olive branch to everyone that the stool is for everyone and it’s a collective effort to ensure the throne live up to its expectation. Many were thrilled with his ways and mannerism and his meekness and respectful nature as they all put their differences behind them to join hands with him to make the Yoruba race great again.

Ever since he was crowned Ooni, he has ensured he does things differently deviating from the norm by ensuring all the culture and traditions that have been put on halt are revitalized. Apart from that, he has created empowerment for all sundry and as well changed the narrative of people with their culture as he has explored the tourism aspect by selling Yoruba race to the entire world through cultural exchange with countries. Away from the controversies around him, Ooni Adeyeye is well-loved by all sundry for prioritizing his people and creating an avenue for youths to thrive through the royal African Award where over 100 youths are spotted and inducted into the Royal African Academy. He has invested in agriculture, youth and women empowerment and education.

Read Also: Olori Tobi thanks Ooni for fulfilling eight-year dream

On Wednesday December 7, Ooni celebrated his 7th year coronation anniversary on the throne of his forefathers but used the occasion to put smiles on the faces of people around him. Through his House of Oduduwa foundation and Mrs. Kehinde Adelaja Okoroafor’s MakeMee Elegant foundation, Ooni trained and empowered victims of human trafficking with a 6days training programme alongside the Nigeria Export promotion council, NAPTIP, Ministry of Women Affairs, and other government agencies where victims were empowered with skills and also given Sewing and stoning machines, Wig making machines, Fridges, Cash and other things to make life earlier for them as he also launched the OjajaWomen Entrepreneur Programme.

He alongside his wife organized a big award ceremony for distinguished staff of the palace as he appreciated them for their steadfastness with Award Plagues, letters of recommendation, cash prizes and car gifts. This is to motivate them to do more and also tell them that there is a reward for hard work.