David Akachukwu
Keep up with the latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing; follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates. Click to Follow us
Billionaire entrepreneur Femi Otedola shared insights into a tense confrontation with former President Olusegun Obasanjo over diesel deregulation in his upcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business.
In excerpts from the book, Otedola recounted how Obasanjo angrily confronted him in 2004 after reports of diesel shortages in Nigeria.
At that period, the federal government had recently deregulated diesel imports, following recommendations from Otedola and other private sector stakeholders.
Otedola’s firm, Zenon Petroleum, had assured the presidency that private companies could satisfy the national demand without reliance on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which had been the sole importer under a subsidy system.
“When President Obasanjo deregulated diesel in 2004, Zenon took an unassailable lead in the market,” Otedola wrote.
“My opponents’ reaction was to tell the president that we’d turned the market upside down… and that industries were shutting down because there was no diesel.”
According to him, Obasanjo called him around 2am, visibly furious. “‘You’re a stupid boy! God will punish you!’ he shouted. ‘You persuaded me to deregulate diesel, and now there’s no diesel in the country!’”
Otedola said he flew to Abuja the next day to clarify the situation. “As soon as Obasanjo saw me, he flew into a rage again… I allowed him to cool down, and when he stopped talking, I explained the situation,” he wrote.
He informed the former president that six diesel shipments were waiting to unload and presented letters of credit as proof.
He further claimed that some NNPC officials, resistant to deregulation, deliberately misinformed the president to safeguard their subsidy privileges.
For further information on sport secret and greatest sport icon click here
To address the misinformation, Otedola began publishing diesel availability and prices in newspapers to reassure both the government and the public of a consistent supply.
He described Obasanjo as a “resolute and strong-willed president” who stood firmly behind those he believed to be honest.
Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it.
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post
Jonathan Nwokpor
