Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Saturday in Lagos that Folorunsho Alakija, Africa’s richest woman by Forbes reckoning, was among the 25 billionaires he made during his tenure as President.
Obasanjo stated this at the 2016 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum.
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The former president was reacting to an allegation by Alakija at the event, that the Obasanjo administration frustrated her effort when she ventured into oil business.
Alakija, who spoke before Obasanjo, alleged that the administration illegally took an oil block allocated to her company after her family had invested all their savings to strike oil in commercial quantity.
“This oil block is in 5000 feet depth of water and was extremely difficult to explore.
“It took 15 years from the time that we were awarded the licence in 1993 till 2008 when we struck the first oil
“When this event happened, 60 per cent out of our 60 per cent equity in the business, was forcefully taken from us by the government of the day without due process.
“We had to fight back by going to court to seek redress and it took another 12 years for justice to be served in our favour.
“In all those years it was my trust in God, my perseverance and the support of my family that got me going,” she said.
She used her experiences to charge the 2000 budding entrepreneurs at the event to be dogged, determined and not to give up in the face of challenges.
When Obasanjo spoke, the former president seized the opportunity to reply to the allegation by Alakija.
“There is a saying in my part of the world that when a proverb touches you and you failed to reply, then you are a coward,” he said.
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