The dapper banker, Chairman of Heirs Holdings is a generational legend. He builds Castles in the sky and flies in a capsule to actually live in the castle. He’s a man you’ve got to respect, like him or hate him.
What makes his work interesting is the fact that he’s actively sharing his wealth with young people across the African continent by helping them build their small businesses. When you see his ads on CNN, you see a man who says the Tony Elumelu Foundation helped him to build his business and he’s now the biggest employer of labor outside of government in Sokoto State.
Tony Elumelu makes a bold claim that his Foundation has spent over $100m in empowering small businesses.
A man like that, doing so much good in his country, and on the continent, you would think, should get some respect from the government of his country. Not so. And I don’t want to think it’s just because he’s a Southerner, otherwise, how do we account for the same kind of mistreatment being meted on Aliko Dangote? It may be safe to conclude that Nigeria is a dream killer—at many levels.
It starts from the teacher who wants to sleep with a girl before she can pass her exams or the boss who wants to sleep with female staff in order to give them a promotion they deserve. It would appear that our leaders have a complex when they have to deal with local talent at any level. They would rather deal with foreigners than deal with fellow Nigerian businessmen.
I have often wondered why there’s no local Nigerian Construction Company that can challenge Julius Berger for example. A brilliant Nigerian Engineer who was trained by the Late Professor Awojobi said to Egogonewshub—“If the government does not extend patronage to us, how will I ever be able to show them that my company could have built the Second Niger Bridge for less than half of what was paid to Julius Berger—-and we wonder why we never have enough foreign exchange. It’s simple. The foreign companies must repatriate their money to their countries. Whereas, I would keep my money here.”
It is therefore not surprising to hear that Tony Elumelu was frustrated by the Buhari Government from purchasing a critical asset, an Oilfield, that was being sold by a foreign company looking to exit the Nigerian market.
Tony could have been wiser. Next time an asset is available, get on the plane and get a White Friend to come back and help you buy it. That’s the way to roll with the knuckle heads who hold power almost at every level in Nigeria.
They have a complex. They don’t understand that God made all of us the same, Black and White. They fear and respect White people with the same intensity with which they resent their own countrymen. People like that made slavery possible.
John James.
Correspondent,
Egogonewshub.com
