Celebrating a dogged fighter, Chief Dr Mike Adenuga Jr @ 71

By Cyriacus Nnaji

Let the drum beats be heard across continents and beyond the oceans, let the gongs sound, the tom-tom, timpani, the trumpet, and the samba, let them all simultaneously sound and announce to the whole world that today is the born-day of the cynosure of all eyes, the indescribably unmatchable Telecoms icon. Let the five different types of music instrument be assembled at the same time and let them sound: the percussion, the string, the woodwind, the brass and the keyboard, an assortment of instruments, gather them, the violin, the xylophone, the piano, the guitar, the cello, the harp, yes, because it is the day a king was born, the king of Telecoms and oil and gas magnet, Chief (Dr) Mike Adenuga (Jr), April 29, 2024. 

Do this with the best musical instrument in the world, express it in sounds and gesticulations in any language of the world in a manner of portrayal as a sign of your inner feelings for a man with limitless dreams and visions for the good of his country. Today marks his 71th year of his triumphal entry into this part of the world just for the reason to deliver his own people from the shackles and shylocks of the world. Nigerians are so lucky to have him, incidentally there is only one Mike Adenuga Jr, if they were two or three, the problem of Nigeria would have been over, a man that carries the burden of others on his shoulders, cerebral and down to earth, who painstakingly built his business empire through a sustained and verifiable legal means to arrive at where he is today. Nigerians doff their hat for you!

How else can you celebrate this man who bore the burdens of his own people on his shoulders, a man that talks less but full of action, look, we must dance, we must beat the drums, we must sing, we must make merry for what this man stand for Nigerians in the Telecoms industry, only God can do it, that Nigerians still enjoy considerable Telecoms service delivery that is not cutthroat in pricing must be attributable to the active and primus inter pares status of the Globacom Technologies, trying to argue this would not lead us nowhere.

Not only has Chief done extremely well in Telecoms, in the oil and gas, he is a doyen, in commerce, he is an enigma, in philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) he is simply the best.

Dr Adenuga, in a manner of speaking, is God's special homo sapiens who has taken it upon himself to lift millions of people out of poverty through job creation, and numerous interventions. His business acumen and visionary focused leadership has seen him grown steadily and sustainably despite the unsteady, unpalatable policies and unfertile environment that have truncated so many companies and organization. For him there is an answer to every situation.

What he has done in the Telecoms industry in Nigeria remains a talking point, an example truly worthy of emulation.

Coming to the Telecoms sector after the two precursors of the SM brand of technology, he did what none of the two have ever done or had even thought possible by turning around the Telecoms billing system from per minute to per second and till today the common man can enjoy what used to be an exclusivity of the rich. Initially call that terminated at one minute one second was charged as two minutes, which the two first Telecoms companies applied making them a Shylock so to speak, to the chagrin of Nigerians, but when Chief (Dr) Mike Agenuga entered the stage, everything was made okay, the bible says when the righteous is on the throne, the people smile and nothing can be added or subtracted from this truism. And steadily, Adenuga has seen in business, Nigerians first, nay, human beings first, hence he values humanity over and above money.

Look at their data subscription, Glo has remained number one for long time while other players have always trailed with distant second. Their data service is browse as you like, their berekete, GloReward CashToken Promo, Zero USSD charges when you buy Glo Airtime/data, Grab 6X More, in fact for Glo, it has always been pay less for more.

Chief Dr Mike Adenuga Jr, is an elephant, hence you describe him from the side you are standing, even the blind can describe him, all he needed to do is to touch any part of it and render his description of him as he feels it, he will certainly come up with kind words for the internationally acclaimed IT icon, a man of many parts, renowned so much both in oil and gas industry.

His humanitarian inclination, his philanthropic mien and programmes and projects for humanity sets him apart as a capitalist with human face. Of course, many in the industry amass profits and repatriate to home countries, Adenuga group of companies certainly has nowhere else to move their profits, hence Nigerians remain the ultimate beneficiaries as he ploughs his gains back into the economy and helping the poor.

Recently, Two new products, which provide internet connectivity solutions especially designed for Residential and SME commercial customers, was unveiled by digital solutions company, Globacom.

The products, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Business (FTTB) were packaged for Glo customers to enjoy reliable and high speed internet through linked fibre services.

Globacom said “With these services, businesses and homes can access dedicated internet speeds of up to 1GBps, allowing unlimited internet usages for seamless video calls, video and music streaming and a whole lot of other dedicated usages to promote business success and equally provide endless entertainment for homes.”

For the records, Globacom was the only operator in all of Africa to launch its operations on the superior 2.5G network that ensured the convergence of voice, data and multimedia technologies – an innovative platform that not only enhanced unparalleled voice clarity and low drop calls, but also enabled the offering of value-added services previously unavailable on the 2G technology – such as vehicle tracking, mobile internet, mobile banking, multimedia messaging service (MMS), voice SMS, Magic Plus and Text2email.

While above feat was going on with celebrations, Globacom launched another first, which firmly established the network as the acknowledged pioneer in the industry, was the introduction of the 3G Plus technology, an event that marked the second time that Globacom would be at the forefront of birthing the latest transmission network in Nigeria. This new technology enabled a much faster transmission of data, voice, broadband internet and multimedia services over a range of frequencies, and it allowed customers to make video calls, video streaming and high-speed mobile internet access, amongst others, just from their 3G mobile handsets.

Globacom also became the first network in the country to test the 4G-LTE network, a revolutionary fourth-generation mobile technology, that enhances data transfer rates, delivers unmatched mobile broadband experience and the highest data speeds and reliability, thus putting Nigeria in the league of nations where long-term evolution (LTE) has continued to gain a grip. 

No doubt its commitment to relentless network expansion, in terms of both quality and quantity, so as to give its customers top-notch service, is squarely in line with the company’s mission statement: “To be the largest, most successful entertainment, information and telecommunications solutions provider, in Nigeria and Africa”. And in the last 20 years, it has invested billions of dollars in extending its long reach to ever more nooks and crannies of Nigeria and beyond – most notably via the deployment of the most extensive fibre optic backbone across the country. The fibre optic cable was built to further enhance voice and data transmission for mobile and fixed telephone operations in the country, and is complemented by a microwave backbone that serves as backup. The cable helps ensure that calls on the network are crisp and clear, without the interference of breaks and drops. 

Above the ground, below the ground and even undersea, Globacom’s game-changing innovations took another leap forward. In the area of broadband connectivity, the launch of Glo-1, the intercontinental submarine cable linking Nigeria with the outside world, not just a giant feat, costing over $250 million dollars, this project marked the first time a single company in Africa would implement such a massive undersea project. Glo-1 is an expansive trans-Atlantic cable designed to provide internet connectivity between Europe, America and the West African coast.

It is no longer news that this 9,800 km-long cable which has landing points in Lagos, Accra (Ghana), Dakar (Senegal), Nouakchott (Mauritania), Casablanca (Morocco), Vigo (Spain), Bude (England), among other points delivers a much faster and robust connectivity for voice, data and video. Of interest also is boosting the provision of services to telecom end-users, the facility is currently providing much-needed connectivity to critical sectors of the Nigerian and international economies such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, commerce, education and health, and a host of others.

Two decades on, Nigeria’s active phone lines climb sharply from about 400,000 in 2001 to over 200 million as at April 2023. Internet access rose from less than 1% broadband penetration in 2001 to 48% (which translates to 157 million subscribers). Of course while other mobile operators cumulatively lost about 100,000 internet subscriptions in one month, according to the industry regulator, Globacom gained over 200,000 subscriptions in the same period. 

The memory is still fresh when 20 years ago, Glo in a triumphal entry like lion in a tribe stamped its feet on the telecommunications firmament of Nigeria, from that momentous beginning, Globacom Telecommunications Company Limited took over the frontiers of Nigeria’s telephony, for the benefit of an ever-expanding customer and client base. Today, millions of Nigerians and citizens of some West African sub-region are not only showing gratitude to Glo, they are using its many platforms, products and offerings to Rule their World – and in the process discovering unlimited possibilities in their business, career, educational, health and wellness, and relationship journeys.

In fact, one can go so far as to assert that Globacom is the catalyst that revolutionised the mobile telecommunications ecosystem in the country, and placed her entire economy on the pedestal it is on today, as well as positioning it for greater growth in a future in which new work and social paradigms and cutting-edge technologies will define the way we work, live and interact with one another. 

When GSM first cast its anchor on the shores of Nigeria in 2001, Nigerians believed their prayers had at last been answered. The new telecoms regime was rightly seen as a clear departure from the egregious failure of the state-owned monopoly that had gulped so much public expenditure in the form of subventions and taxes without a commensurate return in services. 

However, the euphoria of the coming of GSM services soon gave way to bewilderment. Doubt quickly replaced hope, as Nigerians were confronted with the reality or shall we say, double jeopardy – of both the high cost of mobile lines and the N50 per minute billing system. In a more subtle replication of the “Telephones are not for the poor” attitude, the legacy mobile operators insisted that it was ‘impossible’ to sell lines at more affordable prices. Not only that, they also ruled out per-second billing (PSB) as being unrealistic, owing to the cost of obtaining licences and the humongous funds needed for network expansion. One of the networks even condescended to say that per second billing could only happen in 2010.

So, GSM services, like those of NITEL, seemed destined to remain the exclusive preserve of Nigeria’s rich and middle class for the foreseeable future. But Globacom came and rescued Nigerians from the jugular of these shylock tech companies in 2003.

From the iconic and eagerly anticipated events which light up the nation’s cultural calendar, such as the Ojude Oba Festival and the Onitsha Ofala Festival (to name just two) to the numerous talent, reality and game shows that have produced stars who have gone on to become global icons in music, movies, comedy and so forth, Globacom’s sponsorship footprint is everywhere, and its logo is a conspicuous and familiar sight. Nigeria’s ascendancy on the world stage as an emerging cultural superpower has GLOBACOM written all over it. Not long ago, for example, Globacom launched an online streaming app. Known as GloTV, it is an innovative TV streaming service on Android, IoS and Web for watching live TV; video on demand; and Catch-up with premium content. 

It is no secret that Nigeria’s quest to develop a functional, profitable and dynamic football league and general ecosystem capable of sustaining itself and becoming profitable enough to wean itself of its long-standing dependence on government subventions has motivated Globacom, since its inception, to support Nigerian football in various ways – a support which culminated in the heartwarming triumph of Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the 2013 African Nations Cup (AFCON), among other feats. Globacom was, for many a season, the sole sponsor of the Glo/CAF Awards which honoured individual and team excellence from the continent.

Undoubtedly the company has consistently maintained top position in the data subscription category for many years. Of course, in this age and time, data is life, any individual, organisation, company, government that is out of data is out of life; data improves your businesses, and this is where Glo is called the grand master of data. The efficient data service delivery by Glo from inception marked it out as a company with consciously designed effort to live the dream of its customers, empowering them to realize and excel in whatever their aspirations are through Glo business intuitions which it showcased through its per second billing.

Today, the patriarch of Nigerian telecommunications technology is 71, lut us all rise and pop champagne.