Why Forbes Richest Rating Does Not Interest Adenuga

Many money men covet and lobby far and wide for a mention on the Forbes Rich List. Don’t blame them, it satiates their conceit. They deploy huge resources to push their rating in the American journal, and when listed, these billionaires take out congratulatory adverts in newspapers to celebrate their surreptitiously influenced rating.

Conversely, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr, the Globacom Chairman, is markedly different. He pays no heed to such ephemeral listing. Many analysts have even consistently argued that he is bestowed with wealth far beyond the worth ascribed to him in Forbes Rich Lists and might even be the richest on the continent. He is, however, unperturbed by such guesses.

Notwithstanding his depth as an entrepreneur, philanthropist and citizen of humanity, Adenuga covets no vanities; he demands no free verses, heroic couplets or ornamental rhymes to glorify his personage as a man. Adenuga is hardly given to such infectious vanities.

He is unflinchingly, unnervingly honest. He exposes, beneath all that bare skin, a multitude of traits as vivid and raw a portrait as we have seen and for this, the world ravenously embraces him. Adenuga’s unique lack of thirst for vanity inspires a lot of his contemporaries and underlings to consider that they may also be able to conduct themselves humbly and unpretentiously. This is not only impressive; it is important.

These marvellous traits accompany him in his work. Thus Adenuga, like the proverbial bee, silently does his work in the hive, knowing that without humility all will be lost. But nothing is lost in the hive of the telecoms magnate. Year after year, the world plays host to his accomplishments, as it does to the cold draft that accompanies the drizzle in the harvest season.

His reticent demeanour notwithstanding, the global media has continued to accord him resounding mentions on a repeated basis, trying to give estimates of his worth in terms of his wealth. According to the report doing the rounds, Adenuga has reemerged as Nigeria’s second-richest man after three weeks in the third position.  

Now, he trails only Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, who tops the list of Nigeria’s wealthiest people, with a net worth of $19.8 billion according to Billionaire Africa.

The leading businessman, who is the founder of Nigeria’s second-largest telecom services provider, Globacom, has surpassed billionaire industrialist AbdulSamad Rabiu, whose net worth has fallen from more than $7 billion to $5.8 billion in less than three months.

Adenuga’s reemergence as Africa’s second-richest man comes nearly two months after an exclusive report by Billionaires Africa confirmed that Rabiu had surpassed the telecom and oil mogul to become the country’s second-wealthiest billionaire.

According to Forbes, Adenuga, who derives the majority of his fortune from his mobile phone network, Globacom, and his oil exploration company, Conoil Plc, has surpassed Rabiu as Nigeria’s richest man, with a net worth of $6.3 billion, compared to Rabiu’s $5.8 billion. Indeed, Adenuga towers in excellence, thus creating a powerhouse that Africa can be proud of.