Story from Saleh INUWA, Kano
Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, the Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil, says it is very painful when people attribute the acquisition of her oil block to Maryam Babangida, wife of former Military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.
Before her journey into the Oil sector, Alakija who is now regarded as one of Africa’s Richest Women made blouses for the wife of ex-Military President Ibrahim Babangida.
In May 1993, Alakija’s Famfa Oil Ltd. applied and was granted an allocation for Oil Prospecting License (OPL) and the License to explore for Oil on a 617,000 acres block now referred to as OPL 216 and she made billions of Naira from that.
But recently, Forbes had dropped Alakija off the 2021 world billionaires released in April because her fortune dropped below 1 billion dollars due to lower oil prices. Recounting her experience, Alakija said a London friend wanted her to help by speaking to Babangida over an Oil deal while on a trip to Lagos.
After the friend was denied and inroad into Nigeria’s Oil and Gas minefield, Alakija said she asked herself how she could secure a contract and diversify her streams of income because she was only a stylist at the time, she said it took her 3 years and several appointments with different petroleum ministers to finally get the Oil Block.
“It was a case of discretionary allocation at the time. The President through the NNPC was the one that would decide who get it, I think I was one of the first women to get the license. It is very painful when you listen to people saying that Oh! It’s because she makes blouses for Mrs Babangida or Oh! It’s because she was one of them”, she said in an interview with Arise Nigeria.
How about all the others who got the license and were not in the industry at the time they got the license? Is it fair on womanhood why relegate us to the background, why say we can’t when we can when all the prerequisites, the boxes could be ticked?
Everything that I needed to do or to supply before I could qualify to apply for a license or get one, I made them all available, our technical partners etc. I went here and there, I got everything and I applied and I was given the approval.
She also recalled the difficulties she encountered after she was awarded an offshore oil block and oil exploration companies declined to partner with her company to drill for oil, Alakija explained that the oil she eventually bagged was not lucrative at the time and had been rejected by everyone else because the technology to drill it down thousands of feet wasn’t yet in place. The Oil Mogul who clocked 70 years on Thursday noted that her transition from a fashion entrepreneur to an investor in the Oil Industry was ordained by God.
“As I look back now, I can say that there is nothing to regret, my only regret in life is not coming to Christ earlier, which is almost 30years, that is my only regret in life, I transitioned from fashion to Oil to the glory of God, moving from fashion to oil industry,” she said.
She further advised young people to do away with the get rich quick syndrome, warning that they may live to regret it.
For those who want to get wealth quickly, it’s not the way to go, it gets people into trouble if you want to do it very fast, you will end up cutting corners, and when you cut corners, you are going to regret it more often than not, I will say 95% of the time you are going to regret it or live to regret it.
This Oil Mogul clocked 70 years last Thursday and she organized series of Church programmes, media interviews, charity activities and many more to thank God for her success in life and the good health that God has given her because she is still strong at the age of 70.
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